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THE IMMORTALS 



ARGUMENT 



HON. STEPHEN W. DOWNEY, 

OF WYOMING TERRITORY, 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE, 

Tuesday, April 13, 1880, 



A BILL PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN PAINTINGS ON 
9* THE WALLS OF THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 



Phantasmagoria, farewell! I leave 

Thee now to nurse thy offspring in the beams 

That never fade, and warmth that never chills. 



WASHINGTON. 
1880. 



THE IMMORTALS 



ARGUMENT 

J 

HON. STEPHEN WVTOWNEY, 

OF WYOMING TERRITORY, 

IN THE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

Tuesday, April 13, 1880, 



A BILL PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN PAINTINGS ON 
THE WALLS OF THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 



Phantasmagoria, farewell ! I leave 

Thee now to nurse thy offspring in the beams 

That never fade, and warmth that never chills. 






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[Copyright, 1880, by Stephen W. Downey. All rights reserved.] 



AEGUMENT 

OF 

HON. STEPHEN W. DOWNEY, 

OF WYOMING TERRITORY, 

In the House of Bepresentatiyes 3 

Tuesday, April 13, 1880. 

Mr. DOWNEY said : 

Mr. Speaker : On the 12tli day of April, A. D. 1880, I introduced 
the following bill, namely : 

A bill providing for certain paintings on the walls of the National Capitol. 

Whereas the people of the United States are a Christian people and firmly be- 
lieve in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ; and in Jesus 
Christ His only Son oar Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the 
Yirgin Mary ; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried ; He 
descended into hell, the third day He rose from the dead : He ascended into heaven, 
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty ; from thence He shall 
come to judge the quick and the dead ; and believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy 
catholic church, the communion of 3aints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection 
of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen : Therefore, 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That the sum of $500,000, or so much thereof as 
may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any funds in 
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended under the direction of 
the Architect of tbe Capitol, to commemorate in suitable paintings by the great 
living artists of this century upon the walls of the National Capitol the birth, life, 
death, and resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ, as told in the four gospels of 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

In support of its provisions I have the honor to offer the following 
argument, entitled : 

THE IMMORTALS. 

Dedicated to the Congress of the United States. 

"For, go back to the beginning of ages, examine all nations, read the history of 
kingdoms and empires, listen to those who return from the most distant isles, the 
immortality of the soul has always been, and still is, the belief of every people on the 
face of the earth. The knowledge of one God may have been obliterated ; his glory, 
power, and immensity may have been effaced, as I may say, from the hearts and 
minds of men; obstinate and savage nations may still live without worship, reli- 
gion, or God in this world ; but they all look forward to a future state. Nothing 
has ever been able to eradicate the opinion of the immortality of the soul ; they 



all figure to themselves a region which our souls shall inhabit after death ; and, in 
forgetting God, they have never discarded the idea of that provision for them- 
selves." — [John-Baptist Massillon.J 

All ! me, what strange wild fancies crowd the brain, 

Of mortal man, who, wearied with the toil 

And ceaseless combat of the rolling years, 

Seeks rest in slumber deep and undisturbed. 

His mind, transformed, becomes a temple filled 

With forms intangible, immortal sprites, 

From chaos rising, back to chaos borne. 

Unnumbered throngs pass by, nor leave behind 

A foot-print on the plains of memory. 

But myriads, eager, clamor to be heard ; 

And though the brain o'er wearied close the gate 

And portals of the inner consciousness 

To bar the phantoms out into the night, 

Bolts cannot bar nor iron chain them down. 

Returning swift with strength increased they knock 

And thunder at the doorways of the soul 

To gain admission, till they batter down 

All barriers and rush triumphant in, 

Bearing the captive Will in fetters bo and. 

The mind, unable longer to resist 

Or strive for mastery o'er the spells they weave, 

Follows submissive where their pleasure leads. 

Lo ! one of radiant form and face divine 

There stood whose hands the Holy Bible clasped 

Her brow, like fair Columbia's, broad and full, 

'Neath which her brown eyes looked in wistful and 

Intensely earnest tenderness, was bound 

With fadeless wreaths of shining immortelles ; — 

Not beauty, grandeur, and sublimity 

Alone illumined and adorned her face ; 

But mercy, purity, and perfect peace, 

With deathless love harmoniously blent : — 

As erst upon Mount Hermon, glory crowned, 

Our Lord and Saviour Christ was round enwrapp'd 

With shimmering mantle of supernal light, 

Transfiguring His form and robes, until 

His gleaming garments glittered white as snow, 

And on His face the glow of lightning fixed, 

While by Him Moses and Elijah stood : 

So she in aureole of glory shone. 

Oh ! with what soul-ingulfing ecstasy 

Rolled forth the story of her pilgrimage 



PHANTASMAGORIA. 

Methought I stood within the court of Jove ; 
On high Olympus, where th' assembled gods 
Extraordinary council held ; for Jove, 
Supreme upon his golden throne, bad sent 
His mandate by swift-winged Hermes forth 
That all the gods within th' ambrosial vales 
Of many-ridged Olympus should attend 
To hear the Cloud-compeller's will declared. 

His sister- wife beside him, white-armed Queen 
Of Argos, Juno, sat ; near by them sat 
Their son, ferocious Mars, with wrinkled brows ; 
Pallas Minerva, blue-eyed goddess, shield 
Of warriors, frowning on grim-visaged Mars, 
Her sandals beautiful, ambrosial, bound 
With golden bands unto her silver feet, 
Beside earth-shaking Neptune proudly sat ; 
There Thetis, silver-footed queen, who sailed 
Like swift-winged falcon from Olympus' heights, 
"Charged with the glitt'ring arms by Vulcan wrought, 
For swift Achilles, Peleus' godlike son ; 
There Ehadamanthus, with the golden hair, 
From far Elysiah fields, stood near the gods ; 
Apollo, leaning on his silver bow, 
Beside the laughter-loving Venus stood ; 
Here, hunchbacked Vulcan, skilled artificer ; 
There chaste Diana, hearth-stone guardian ; 
There Hebe, with innumerable nymphs 
And lesser deities, all listening, wait. 

Th' Olympian Temple, where the council sat, 
Bore on its walls the trophies of renown 
From ancient martial fields of gods and men : 
Huge sabers, gleaming swords with golden hilts ; 
The massive, ponderous spear of Hercules 
No human power could wield ; th' elaborate shield 
Which Vulcan wrought for Peleus' godlike son, 
Upon whose golden disk were deftly graved 
The scenes of peace and war ; mysterious art! 
A forge- wrought mirror of th' ethereal dome — 
Metallic picture of terrestrial life — 
Invulnerable armor 'gainst the foe — 
The gleaming harbinger of Trojan doom. 
When by the arrow sped from Paris' bow, 
Upon the threshold of Apollo's fane, 



6 



Prostrate the chieftain, great Achilles, lay ; 

Ulysses strove with Ajax for the shield, 

And won the prize : for though less strong of arm. 

Yet wilier in council, he o'ercame 

The craft of Ajax and hore off the shield. 

Thence, burning with chagrin at his defeat, 

Ajax rushed headlong into Hades' gloom. 

Whereat the gods, enraged, a messenger 

From high Olympus swift dispatched, to wrest 

From mortal hands the golden armor wrought 

By hands immortal. Thus the wondrous shield, 

Whose stars the blood of noble Hector stained, 

Was borne up to the temple of the gods. 

Near by Achilles' armor hung the blade 

Of King Leonidas, immortalized 

By blood it drank at famed Thermopylae. 

Upon its hilt the square and compass flashed 

In fiery light of costly diamonds set. 

The brazen buckler called Ancile, dropped 

By Mars, Rome's guardian deity, into 

The hands of Numa as a shield against 

The pestilence, and through the king's decree 

Elev'n times copied by Mamurius, 

Was here restored from Rome's decline and fall. 

The shadow of the Twelve remains on earth, 

In Numa's circle of revolving months. 

Upon the left of Jove's imperial throne, 

In sculpture wrought, I saw Laocoon 

Writhe in the scaly serpent's hideous folds, 

And in like torturing grasp, on either side, 

His sons ; their forms cramp'd by the tight'ning gripe,. 

Their visages transfixed with agony. 

Above them, borne upon gigantic limbs, 

High as the pillars of the Ephesian Dome, 

The mammoth steed, by Pallas' art contrived, 

In length and breadth like some vast oak-rib b'd ship 

That o'er the billows of th' Atlantic rides, 

Stood tow'ring like a frowning deity. 

Immortal artists had adorned the walls 

With speaking pictures of immortal powers. 

Above the throne of Jove, by Vulcan wrougbt 

In gold and silver, brass and glittering steel, 

Emblems of Jupiter's almighty power, 

Hung in relief, the execution of 

Prometheus' sentence to Caucasian heights ; 



Immortal power brooked not that lie should add 
To mortal power of man the fire of art, 
The pelf of forethought from Olympus filched . 
And higher, reaching to the vaulted dome, 
Great Saturn's overthrow, by which the gods 
Won their immortal power through vanquishing 
Their ancestor, offspring-devouring Time. 
Great Alexander, on the eastern wall 
In picture grasped a gleaming thunderbolt. 
Upon the western wall Diana came 
Returning laden from the prosp'rous chase ; 
While fronting Jove appeared historic scenes 
Of combat on the plains of Illium, 
And sage Ulysses' after wanderings. 

The Cloud-compeller, from his golden throne, 
In awe-imposing majesty uprose ; 
His golden breast-plate blazing like the sun, 
A marvel to behold ; in his right hand 
The forked lightnings for a scepter grasped : 
His glitt'ring throne creaked with his massive weight, 
And underneath, the golden pavement shook 
As if reverberating thunder sound : 
Then the assembled gods he thus addressed : 
"From that far distant, nameless orb, whence rolls 
The great Jehovah's everlasting power, — 
His who, alone, controls the destinies 
Of all the gods that on Olympus dwell, 
And sons of men that toil upon the earth — 
Thence having just arrived, swift Iris, borne 
Upon the wings of lightning, brings report 
Of gath'ring hosts from all the circling worlds 
That swing their cycles round Jehovah's throne. 

Let all the gods in swiftest flight repair 
Unto that nameless and far- distant orb, 
And glean whate'er we may of destinies, 
Foretold unto the swiftly gath'ring hosts 
Now thither speeding from a myriad worlds. 
Make ready all save Vulcan who alone 
On Ida's topmost heights will keep strict ward 
And watch o'er all th' Olympian boundaries. 
But ere ye pass the portals of the Hours, 
Let all the gods allegiant vows renew, 
And, quaffing cups of sparkling nectar, idedge 
Eternal fealty to immortal Jove." 



Chorus. 

" Draw closer in th' Olympian ring — 
Swear by the stars and by their King, 
Swear by the dark infernal river 
To keep thy plighted vow forever." 

The waiting nymphs of Hebe bore to each, 
A golden cup with sweetest nectar brimm'd ; 
Then, drinking each to Saturn's mighty son, 
Thus swore they all allegiance anew : 

" We swear to father Jove eternal love — 
His mandate be our guide, his will our law." 
The oath was sworn, and then the gods rushed each 
A sky-traversing chariot to prepare. 

First Pallas, child of aegis-bearing Jove, 
Within her father's threshold drew her veil 
Of airy texture, work of her own hands, 
Across her brow, which towered above her eyes 
Like rounded, snow-crowned mountain hanging o'er 
Two deep-blue flashing lakes in vales beneath. 
Her golden sandals, rich, ambrosial, spurned 
The threshold ; o'er her snow-white shoulders flung, 
Her streaming mantle like a comet blazed ; 
And thus accoutered for her upward flight, 
Her fiery car she mounted ; in her hand 
A talisman caught from a thunderbolt 
Hurled by her angry, cloud-compelling sire. 
With equal swiftness all the gods prepared. 

The temple where th' Immortals sat in state, 
The wonted clouds obscure from mortal gaze, 
And when in thicker, darker folds are piled 
The low'ring volumes on Olympus' heights, 
Earth-plodding mortals fear Jove's wrath, swift to 
Descend in lightning, tempest and in rain. 
The grounds that from the temple's base extend 
In gentle slopes far down the mountain's brow 
Were interlaced with many chariot drives, 
'Twixt which grew stately trees whose branches reached 
The azure of the arching dome, and on 
Their leaves, the stars like dew-drops twinkling played. 
Grotesque, gigantic plants bloomed here and there, 
Blood-sprinkled by Minerva till their deep 
Carnation dyes mocked sunset's flaming hues ; 






9 



And from tli' ambrosial nectar on them poured 

By Hebe and her nymphs, their perfume breathed 

Sweeter than odors from Hesperides. 

Here, in the scarlet hyacinth, the blood 

Of Ajax bloomed ; and there, black roses from 

Old Charon's garden on the murky Styx. 

The birds of Paradise the verdure swept 

With trailing plumage, sipping nectar from 

These flowers of wondrous and unfading hues. 

Among the bloom, white-arm'd Juno's birds, 

The gaudy peacocks, spread their brilliant plumes. 

Swift-footed antelopes were bounding o'er 

The lawns, and all the air was resonant 

With warblings of the singing birds. I gazed 

And listened in this garden of the gods, 

While all their gorgeous chariots drew without 

The portals guarded by the Hours ; and then 

I stood expectant and irresolute 

Alone upon Olympus' airy heights, 

In admiration gazing on the train. 

As when some golden serpent, measureless, 

Just breaking from the fetters of long sleep, 

Unwinding its gigantic coils, its length 

Majestic drawing out in swaying curves, 

Marks out a trailing line of splendor by 

Its aureate scales illumined by the sun ; 

So from th' Olympian gates the speeding gods, 

In golden chariots through the azure wheeled 

By their immortal coursers fleetly drawn, 

Sailed in a train of splendor through the sky ; 

Great Jove the last, behind whose chariot streamed 

A trailing quiver of white thunderbolts. 

Scarce had he passed the portals of the Hours 
When by my side a shining angel fell, 
Who bade me, Arise and conquer ; then said 
"Phantasmagoria, daughter of the West : 
I come from those eternal palaces, 
Where are assembled princes, potentates, 
And dynasties from every earthly realm ; 
And whether now they live in history — 
In this revolving temple of the living — 
Or lie deep buried in oblivion, 
Yet, far beyond yon gleaming sentinels 3 
That stand as watch-fires in the lower skies, 



10 



They hold accustomed espionage upon 

Those realms where glittered erst their coronets. 

When God in His eternal council sat, 

On man's creation pondering, He called 

Three ministers that wait about His throne 

Responsive to his call, and to His will 

Obedient — Justice, Truth, and Mercy ; them 

He thus addressed : ' Shall man created be ? ' 

And Justice answered, ' Make him not, O, God, 

For he will trample on thy holy laws.' 

Truth answered, ' Make him not, O, God, for he 

Thy hallowed sanctuaries shall pollute ; ' 

But Mercy, dropping on her knees, exclaimed, 

While looking upward through her falling tears, 

'Make him, O God, and I will watch o'er him 

With constant care, through all the darksome paths 

That he may have to tread.' Then God made man 

And said to him, ' O, man, thou art the child 

Of Mercy ; go and be thou merciful,' 

Behold in me the angel Mercy, sent 

To thee by Him whose love doth follow man 

Round and round the earth, as ocean tides 

Roll round careening to th' inconstant moon. 

I come to tell thee that thou art ordained 

To make a journey long and perilous; 

That many deadly dangers shall obstruct 

Thy way, and strange sights shall thine eyes behold. 

Firm be thy faith and confidence in God, 

And he will crown thy flight with victory. 

I cannot be companion of thy course ; 

For I must keep my watch upon the earth, 

While thou must seek the orb that far beyond 

This mortal world, the universe of spheres 

Concentric by its tensile radii holds. 

As thou proceedest on thy way, thou shalt 

Be guided by the light of other days. 

The seers of ages past shall bear the torch 

Of wisdom to illuminate the dark 

Mysterious pathways of thy pilgrimage. 

With faith in Christ, who died for men, be not 

Afraid to conquer in Jehovah's name." 

Then I, as one that seeks for strength wherewith 
To triumph over every danger, fell 
Prostrate to earth, and cried aloud, 
"O, Son of God, whose smile divine doth flood 



11 



With holy light the starry worlds that shine 
And sparkle from afar, be Thou the guide 
To light my footsteps from this earthly sphere 
To shining realms of far celestial day. 
Let golden showers at thy command, 
Sparks flung from great Jehovah's hand, 
Make luminous the blue ethereal dome, 
And circling spheres around the Great White Throne." 

Lo ! a thick shining cloud upon me fell, 
Born of Mnemosyne, from heights and vales 
Of Helicon borne by swift- speeding winds, 
Its magic heavy-laden depths with fleet 
Returning memories teemed, with fragrant flowers 
Of poetry, of choral dance, and song, 
Of fertile fancies, eloquence and love. 
But native to the heights and flow'ry vales 
Of sunny Helicon, when to the high, 
Cold, thinner air of Mount Olympus borne, 
The magic mist was suddenly condensed ; — 
Its elements became articulate ; — 
The driving wind became twelve magic steeds; — 
The fertile fancies rolled four silv'ry wheels 
Soft as the summer moonshine in the west ; — 
The flow'ry garlands to a chariot turned 
Which bore me onward in the train of gods ; 
While for the viewless memories which ride 
On rolling fancies of the laboring mind, 
The Virgin Nine within the chariot rode, — 
Great Jove's fair daughters by Mnemosyne : 
Calliope, Muse of the classic brow ; 
Then Clio, of the past, famed chronicler ; 
Euterpe, sweet-voiced maid, with souading shell; 
Melpomene, Muse of the tragic stage ; 
Terpsichore, gay muse of twinkling feet ; 
The love-lorn Erato, whose tender notes 
E'er thrill with rapture earth-born maidens' breasts, 
Who lit the torch of Hero to illume 
The waves dark-rolling in the Hellespont, 
When from Abydos bold Leander swam 
To Sestos nightly, guided by her torch 
Held o'er the deep, to woo him to her arms ; 
Polymnia, sacred Muse, whose lofty strains 
Roll praises toward the sky-enthroned stars, 
Where the far-seeing Muse, Urania, 



12 



Marks out their orbits through the trackless void ; 

Last came Thalia, mirth-provoking Muse, 

With quips and cranks, aud laughter- wreathing wiles, 

Who caught the reins of fancy in her hands, 

To drive the fairy steeds upon the course 

Marked out by wise Urania through the sky, 

The winged steeds, swift as the flight of thought, 

O'ertook Jove's thunder- trailing chariot, 

And joined th' immortal sky- traversing train. 

Now, ere the rolling chariot wheels had passed 
Th' Olympian portals, Juno, white-arm'd queen, 
Did challenge Pallas, blue-eyed goddess, to 
A trial of their flying coursers' speed ; 
And that her own immortal steeds should first, 
On bounding hoofs, the distant orb attain, 
A cluster of her golden apples, from 
The famed Hesperides, for wager laid 
Against Minerva's dazzling sash, wov'n by 
Th' adroitness of her own immortal hands 
From out the golden fleece of Colchis, gemm'd 
And broidered o'er with golden olives fair, 
With massive clasp of gold, inlaid with pearl. 
This wager blue-eyed Pallas did accept, 
And called on all the gods to witness the 
Immortal race 'twixt Juno and herself. 

Entrancing scene ! No mortal tongue could tell 
The dazzling wonders which our flight revealed. 
Far off I saw, with its Elysian bowers, 
The famous garden of Hesperides, 
Where crystal streams and flowing fountains spring ; 
Where loaded vineyards, orchards, beauteous vales, 
And bounteous Terra's golden apple-trees. 
A temple built of wine-tinged amethyst 
To Bacchus 'mid the teeming vineyards rose. 
The lofty walls were bathed in mellow hues, 
That, blending, merged in softest harmony. 
From open windows magic music flowed, 
And hung entrancing in the fragrant air — 
A siren voice in lays melodious sang 
Of endless rest, of idleness, and ease. 
Cool shades and grottoes, 'mid exotic bloom, 
Exhaling Lethean odors on the air. 
Delightful walk, sequestered nook, with rich, 



13 

Luxurious couch to tempt the weary limbs, 
In lavish affluence 'round the temple lay. 
Within the temple Bacchus reigns in state, 
Where, 'mid unceasing revelry, his priests 
On devotees and willing victims pour 
Profuse libations of the ruby wine 
In sacrificial worship of their god. 
A statue of pure gold, to Mammon raised, 
Stood central 'mid the golden apple-trees, 
Colossal as the Syhynx of Egypt. In 
The statue's hand a gleaming two-edged sword, 
As mighty as the brand Excalibar 
King Arthur wrested from the haunted mere. 
They who would pluck the golden apples must- 
Submissive bow before the flashing sword. 

Far upward, boundless, endless, and sublime, 

The Milky Way stretched misty through the sky — 

That thoroughfare where anciently the gods 

Rode in their thundering chariots through the heavens ; 

Th' immortal coursers bounded on their way 

Like long imprisoned warriors set free. 

Inertia's viewless bands which bind unto 

The ceaseless motion of the rolling earth, 

The air, the clouds, and the swift-winged birds, 

No longer held us in their ancient toils. 

Earth's surface like a panorama passed 

Beneath us, fast receding as it sped ; 

And in the curv'd arch of the azure east 

Sank forests, mountains, lakes, and flowing streams. 

The temples of the gods, half veiled in clouds, 

On viewless chords suspended from on high, 

Midway betwixt Olympus and the stars, 

In long majestic curves vibrating swung, 

As if in doubt whether to follow earth 

Or like their tenants cleave unto the sky. 

The temples, towers, and lofty monuments. 

By man's ambitious genius upreared, 

Approaching the blue arch, seemed prostrate laid, 

And, quiv'ring for a moment on the brink, 

Sank headlong in the depths : while in the west, 

From forth the curve that joined the earth and sky, 

New forests, mountains, lakes, and flowing streams, 

New cities, temples, towers, and domes uprose, 

To pass like marshaled hosts in swift review. 



14 

Distance, soon o'er the fast-receding globe, 

A rainbow colored mantle drew; then in 

A shrond of clond the land and sea were lost. 

As throngh the crystal heights we sped, in that 
Immortal race to reach the central orb, 
In fragmentary song the Virgin Xine 
Thus breathed the spirit of their favorite themes : 

CALLIOPE. 

As the moon sheds the light of the sun in the night, 
When rosy Eve covers him under the wave, 

So the epic songs flame with the light of the fame 
Of heroes that sleep in the gloom of the grave. 

CLIO. 

"While we ride through the aether liquescent, 

Let us sing, by the light of the stars, 
Of the heroes whose fame efflorescent 

Shines forth through their manifold scars. 

EUTERPE. 

Our chariot is rolling along o'er the strings, 

To the lyre of the universe strung; 
And the thrilling vibrations drop down from the wings 

Of the zephyrs in fragments of song. 

TERPSICHORE. 

The twinkling stars are dancing to the time 
Of harmonies now throbbing on our ears ; 

In rhyming orbits swinging to the chime 

Of symphonies vibrating through the spheres. 

MELPOMENE. 

The clouds before us like a curtain rise ; 

The actors gather on the stage beyond ; 
The play shall be the nations' destinies ; 

The hero, he who wields the conqueror's wand. 

ERATO. 

See how beautiful the moon's soft splendor 
On that tow'ring mount of low'ring cloud : 

So shall tender love with soft touch render 
Bright the heart, erst lone and darkly proud. 

poLrarxiA. 
Earth-born passion, like the flash on 
Starry night by meteor hurled, 
Cannot light the darkling world 






15 



Through the gTooni when doom shall crash on 
Crumbling spheres in chaos whirled. 

Heavenly love, like fixed stars ever 
Blazing with unfading light — 

In the darkness waning never — 

Can alone illume the river 
Roaring to the realms of night. 

UEANIA. 

The dome is like a charted scroll ; 

I trace upon its face 
The paths of myriad worlds that roll 

Through universal space. 

THALIA. 

My sisters sing in strains profound 

Of all the universe around ; 

Their favorite themes they all prolong 

Until I weary of the song. 

While flying from the cloudy earth, 

Ring merry glees and songs of mirth. 

PHANTASMAGORIA. 

From these fragmentary shadows 
Of the green and fertile meadows, 
Where the feet of memory stray, 
And untrammeled fancies play, 
Which the muses from their singing 
On the ambient air were flinging 
Something of their inspiration, 
Breathing of our destination, 

Dawned upon my wakening soul. 
Then the mists of doubt that bound me, 
In their breath dissolving 'round me, 

Cleared our pathway to the shining goal. 

We swept far up the Milky Way, and saw 
Great constellations and abysmal worlds ; 
And stalking on their confines, phantoms gray, 
Like mortal sentries to immortal ghouls 
Transformed, doomed to eternal vigilance 
Upon the ramparts of the rolling spheres. 
Far as our gaze extended we beheld, 
In number countless as the glitt'ring stars, 
Swift-flying chariots speeding onward toward 
The nameless and far distant orb, as if 



16 



The myriad worlds were sending "heralds forth 

T' attend the council ecumenical 

Called by Supreme Omnipotence to sit 

Within that distant central orb. Far up 

Above us, traversing the azure sky, 

A flaming chariot rolled, drawn by twelve steeds 

Of fire, on golden plumage borne, 

Whose eyes, though full of woman's tenderness, 

Yet with the valor of the lion flamed ; 

Their shining manes streamed aft like flowing gold ; 

Their hoofs of silver bounding on their way 

Bright as the gleaming moons of Jupiter 

In clangor echoed through the boundless air, 

As echoed erst the dark-gray charger's hoofs 

When, riderless from slain Mamilius, 

" Through many a startled hamlet 
Thundered his flying feet," 

Bearing dismay to wounded Tusculum. 
With nostrils wide distended, flashing eyes, 
And speed of Jove's far-darting thunderbolts, 
They marked a trail of splendor through the sky, 
And from the chariot's circling wheels flashed showers 
Of glimmering sparks, like falling stars dethroned. 
Th' avenger of Mount Carmel rode within 
Th' empyrean car, and, sitting by his side, 
A chief tain loved. 

His deeds — his worthy deeds alone — 
Have rendered him immortal — 

Eternal as the rolling sun, 

That shines a thousand worlds upon, 

And when the day of life is done 
Illuminates Death's portal. 

Resplendent round their forms 
Played lambent flames, while twelve angels of light 
Were hov'ring o'er the bounding fiery steeds, 
And bands of cherubim and seraphim 
On gorgeous floating clouds were marshaled by 
The Archangel Azrael, attending hosts, 
Upon the flaming chariot. 

As erst 
"The chariot of paternal Deity 
Flashing thick flames," whereon the son of God, 
" In sapphire throned," rolled on and headlong drove, 
At great Jehovah's awful mandate, o'er 



17 



The crystal walls of heaven the angels who 
Upreared the standard of rebellion : so 
The radiant chariot of Elijah flew 
Far through the crystalline empyrean. 

Behind us far Achilles' radiant car 
Came thund'ring, with the invulnerable chief. 
And by his side the famed Patroclus rode. 
Xanthus and Balius, the immortal steeds, 
That erst, in mortal strife, thrice round the walls 
Of Troy had dragged the fated Hector slain, 
On bounding hoofs of hard cerulean steel, 
Were swiftly clamb'ring up the ambient sky. 
A princely pair behind the chariot rode, 
The great Twin Brethren, who the Roman hosts 
Led at the battle of Regillus Lake. 

" So like they were, no mortal 
Might one from other know : 
White as snow their armour was ; 
Their steeds were white as snow, 

"Never on earthly anvil 

Did such rare armour gleam ; 

And never did such gallant steeds 

Drink of an earthly stream." 

Above us far the racing chariots 
Of Juno and Minerva onward swept 
In swiftest flight, by fleet steeds side by side 
Drawn near and nearer to the distant goal. 
Juno with whip of scorpions lashed her steeds 
To pass blue-eyed Minerva's flying car ; 
And Pallas plied the talisman, caught from 
Jove's thunderbolt, her flying coursers' speed 
To urge, Queen Juno's golden fruit to win. 
While yet we watched their flight in matchless race, 
Upon the way o'er which their chariots rolled, 
The wandering Pleiad, lost from out the train, 
Came swiftly rushing through the trackless void. 
As when a blazing comet in its course 
Doth threaten swift destruction to the orbs 
Whose revolutions swing them in its path, 
So did the wand'ring Pleiad menace now 
The racing chariots of th' immortal gods. 
The queen of Aigos, stag-eyed Juno, quailed 
Before the threat'ning orb, and fled the track 
2 DO 



18 

To let it pass. Not so Minerva, shield 

Of warriors. On she sped and meanwhile prayed 

"O, Father Jove, thy doubly daughter aid." 

The Cloud compeller heard Tritonia's cries, 

And hurling forward a swift thunderbolt, 

Struck midway on its front the wand'ring orb, 

Which cleft in twain let bold Minerva drive 

Her flying steeds straight onward toward the goal. 

The shy grew dark as with a gath'ring storm, 

Wheu, from its gloomy caverns, thunder- riv'n, 

The orbless star sent forth with whirlwind sound 

Legions of winged fiends, and giant birds, 

Whose arrow-pointed plumage sped like darts, 

Whose piercing howls, surpassing deep Hell's shrieks, 

Thrilled through the darkened air to terrify 

With horrid din the goddess in her flight ; 

But scathless, nothing daunted, boldly rode 

Minerva, whom nor thunderbolts, nor fiends 

Thrice armed and winged with Terror's darts, could bruise. 

Like some dark cyclone which at midnight sweeps 

Destruction o'er a land or city doomed, 

So did the breath of Pallas, blue-eyed queen, 

Resistless as Niagara's strong flood, 

All-grasping as Charybdis' howling whirl, 

Send into Hades' gloomy depths the host 

Infernal by Jove's thunderbolt released. 

One vampire of colossal stature, huge 

As Mars when prostrate by Minerva laid 

On Illium's plains, sev'n acres covering, 

Clung to her golden chariot with his claws, 

And at the irate goddess taunting gibed. 

She seized the hideous fiend, and poising him 

High in the air, him headlong hurled against 

The thunder- riven Pleiad's jagged rocks, 

Whence swift rebounding, torn and mangled, down 

He sunk into the gaping jaws of Hell. 

Then Pallas, cheering her immortal steeds, 

While from her scathless brow white thunderbolts 

Glanced harmless, blazing round her awful form, 

With gleaming splendor lumining the gorge, 

Triumphant onward through the cleft orb swept ; 

Then waved her golden sash above her head 

To tantalize Queen Juno's envious eyes. 

She, following far behind, in fury lashed 

Her bounding steeds (as once in wrath she scourged 



19 

Diana, fair Latona's daughter, in 
The battle of the gods, and made her flee 
In terror to her father, Jupiter, 
Upon th' Olympian Heights) now all on fire 
To come ere Pallas, to the orb which lay- 
Beyond the dancing meteors of the night. 

Like fleecy cloudlet driv'n before the blast, 
Swift flying yonder sped the floating Isle 
Of Delos, covered o'er with golden flowers, 
Where first Apollo sprang to light of day, 
And chaste Diana, Jove-begot, was born. 
Saint Ursula there crowned with garlands fair 
Of fadeless amaranth, fair Eden's bloom, 
With virgin band eleven thousand strong, 
All chanted praises in that hymn sublime 
" O, all ye works of His, bless ye the Lord, 
Praise Him and magnify Him evermore, 
Ye angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, 
Praise Him and magnify Him evermore." 
That floating isle, where once Olympian gods 
Eeigned magnates in their undisputed sway, 
Jove saw and sighed, as 'twere a picture of 
The world wherein mythology had been 
Subverted by the conquering faith in Christ. 
Upon the coast rode Ursula's triremes, 
Whose streaming pennons bore the Blood Red Cross; 
Whose mariners divine commission bore 
To sail the azure depths at will, alone 
Subjected to Saint Ursula's behest. 

Next far Alcyone, that distant orb 
Which Maedler for the rolling universe 
Fixed as the pivot, central, ultimate, 
Round which all planetary spheres revolve, 
Our gaze attracted. Nearer grown, and like 
A blazing sun in volume now it seemed. 
Great Jupiter beheld, and " Lo," he said : 
"Yon sunbright sphere toward which our pathway tends! 
Can that be Iris' distant central orb 
Where reigns Jehovah on his awful throne, 
And whither now from all the universe 
The rolling chariots bear th' assembliug throng V 
And as he spoke my eyes glanced searching o'er 
The boundless plains and avenues of space, 



20 



Till in the shoreless sea of azure sight 

Was lost where finite joins the infinite. 

E'en as I gazed Alcyone was passed, 

And fast receding, dwindled to a star 

Far in the traversed realms of space behind ; 

So rapid now our swift increasing flight, 

Still Jove seemed many things revolving in 

His mind, and murmured of the Magi led 

To Bethlehem when they had " seen His star." 

Then turning he exclaimed, " Shall not that star 

Which lit Jehovah's incarnation be 

The scene for revelation of His great 



A sudden zone of darkness crossed 
Our path, embracing races strange and worlds 
Unknown. Here reining up our flying steeds 
We paused. Below us far the glancing lights 
Of ghostly cities twinkled. Giant shades 
Colossal as the Cyclops walked the streets — 
While yet we paused, the chariots of the Hours 
Drawn by their rainbow- winged steeds swept by 
Us like a whirlwind : Demogorgon sat 
In one ; Prometheus in another rode. 

"In each there stood a wild-eyed charioteer 
Urging the rainbow-winged courser's speed ; 
Their hright locks, streaming on ethereal gait 
Trailed like a rushing comet's yellow hair." 

Behind them, seated on his pale horse, Death 
Rode from the darkened zone, in swift pursuit 
After the rainbow-winged steeds that drew 
The chariot of the Hours ; and henceforth like 
A ghost his shadow hovered by our side. 
Strange horrors seized me, waking fears appalled, 
As multitudes of spirits 'round me thronged ; 
Like withered leaves whirled by the autumn blast, 
Their drifting forms in rustling robes rushed by 
Driv'n by the viewless breath of Destiny, 
Their voices echoing in the gloomy air : 
Unearthly apparitions came and went ; 
Ill-visaged, mocking demons shocked my sight, 
And foul, insatiate harpies flapped their wings, 
And with their blood-shot eyes, their horrid beaks 
And crooked talons, menaced me. Teeth gnashed, 
Flesh quivered, howling voices shrieked, until 



21 



I shrunk in terror from these hellish shades ; 
" Then what is life ? " I cried in agony. 
From out the darkness which around us rolled, 
We heard the everlasting spirits cry. 

FIRST SPIRIT. 

The earth rolls ever 'mid the clouds ; 

Upon its face men grope in gloom ; 
After spring garlands, snowy shrouds, 

After the bloom of youth, the tomb. 

SECOND SPIRIT. 

Life has two natures ; one that seems, 

Transient, like images ideal 
Borne on the fertile plains of dreams ; 

And one that is, unfading, real. 
The life that is, springing from forth 

The radiance of light supernal, 
•Casts only on the cloudy earth 

A shadow of its form eternal. 

THIRD SPIRIT. 

Worlds unnumbered roll forever 

Through immeasurable space : 
Though their axes shake and quiver, 
Clashing in their orbits never. 

What the swerveless, viewless trace, 
That their swinging cycles render 
Changeless in their gleaming splendor? 

FOURTH SPIRIT. 

The chords of great Jehovah's love extend 

From His imperishable throne afar, 
And to their everlasting orbits bend 

All worlds, — sun, satellite, and glittering star. 
What beings people the remotest world, 

Bask in Jehovah's smile, pale at his frown, 
And, when his wrathful banner is unfurled, 

Like withered leaves into the dust go down. 

FIFTH SPIRIT. 

Every planet has its angels 

Bearing to the wounded balm ; 
After battle their evangels 

Whisper of the crown and palm. 
Golden be their joys and treasures, 

Sunshine biighten every home, 
Starlight gild each eveniug's pleasures, 



22 

While these orbs through ether roam ; 
For shall come a peal of wondrous 

Clangor, crashing on the ears, 
When Azrael sounds his thundrous 

Summons to the crumbling spheres. 
In their orbits palsied, darkling, 

Universal worlds shall stand ; 
Quenched their gleaming and their sparkling 

By Jehovah's awful hand. 

When over the desolate fields of the dead 
Death's angels their hovering pinions shall spread, 
The stars shall be wrapp'd like a corse in their shrouds, 
And the universe sleep in its mantle of clouds. 

SIXTH SPIRIT. 

After darkness the reflection 

Of returning dawn upspriDgs; 
After death, the resurrection, 

Flying on triumphant wings. 

Lo ! the blast of Gabriel pealing 
Through Death's universe, unsealing 
• Bonds and fetters of th' unnumbered 
Hosts that long in dust have slumbered. 
Then the substance of Life's shadow, 
Rising from each moor and meadow, 
From beneath each bubbling fountain, 
From the bleak and barren mountain, 
From the once thronged, busy highway, 
From each dark and lurking by-way, 
From the forest and the lea, 
From the desert and the sea, 
Shall go forth, arrayed in vernal 
Bloom and grace of life eternal. 

Then over the fields of the waking dead 
In triumph the feet of immortals shall tread ; 
And the stars all rekindled with immortal fire 
Shall sweep in their course to a destiny higher/ 

SEVENTH SPIRIT. 

The Earth rolls ransomed from its clouds ; 

Upon its fields of shining green 
Men, walking in transfigured shrouds, 

Eeborn immaculate, are seen. 
No dying groan, no widow's moan ; 



23 



No clash of hostile spear or sword ; 
The King of Kings is on His throne — 
Our Saviour, Christ, the sov'reign Lord. 

PHANTASMAGORIA. 

Weary of the seen ideal — 
Burning for the unseen real — 
Yearning for the light to render 
Visible the paths of splendor, 

Where the feet of Wisdom tread — 
I will fly to yon bright mountain ; 
I will drink of Faith's pure fountain ; 

By its inspiration led. 
Through this glamour and delusion — 
From this clamorous confusion 
Let me gain the shining portals 
To the realms of the immortals. 

Worlds, cities, apparitions vanished all 

Like wreaths of cloud merged in the darkened zone, 

On depths below our vision fell, and in 

The blackening profound, great Dante's Hell 

Yawned low'rmost in the bottomless abyss. 

Nine times around the murky vortex rolled 

The sluggish Styx, while countless affluents 

Branched through the measureless profound below, 

Gray-bearded Charon in his ferry-boat 

Upon the pitchy waves was ferrying 

Innumerable throngs of lost and damn'd 

From many worlds to Pluto's shady realms. 

Upon the sombre portal's arch I saw 

The immortal lines by Dante's genius carved : 

' Through me you pass into the city of woe; 
Through me you pass into eternal pain ; 
Through me among the people lost for ay. 
Justice, the founder of my fabric, moved : 
To rear me was the task of power divine, 
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love. 
Before me things create were none, save things 
Eternal, and eternal I endure, 
All hope abandon ye who enter here.' 

Close on the verge of Hell's confines, behold 
" A fiery globe of angels on full sail 
"Of wing;" the band that came and ministered 
Unto our Saviour after Satan fled 



24 



From vainly tempting him upon the mount : 

And now at Christ's command, around Hell's verge 

They do forever wing their way, ablaze 

With glory, in celestial harmonies 

Praising the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 

That Satan, hearing, may remember what 

Is writ, " Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 

The Cloud-compeller, gazing down the abyss, 

Sought Satan, lord of Hell, upon his throne, 

Which wrapt in densest smoke was hidden from 

The immortal gaze of Jove's far-seeing eyes ; 

As if the arch-fiend some wily deep laid scheme 

'Gainst mortal man and the immortal gods 

Were plotting in the impenetrable gloom. 

The brow of Jove then gathered in a frown, 

And from his flaming red right hand he hurled 

A thunderbolt down crashing through the depths 

Of Satan's dark dominions, driving hence 

The veil of cloud obscuring Satan's wiles, 

And on his black throne laying bare to view 

The reigning monarch of Hell's lurid realm. 

The bolt crashed midway on the ebon throne 

And lighted all the hollow of the vast 

Eecess, by its ten thousand fragments strewn. 

Eeclining like a huge leviathan 

The thunderbolt disclosed the reigning fiend : 

But startled by the sudden crash, he rose 

And 'bove the apostate angels darkly towered 

As Belus towered above the waters of 

The Euphrates, or Gibraltar's fortress rock 

Above the narrow sea that laves its base. 

His fiendish legions by Beelzebub 

And Moloch marshaled, trembled as in dread 

Before the flashing thunderbolt of Jove, 

As trembled Pluto when the Ocean-god, 

Earth-shaking Neptune, shook the boundless earth 

And ocean wide. 

Like dwellers in that orb most distant from 

The sun — the fabled Apollonia — 

Who far surpassed all children of the earth 

In godlike beauty, godlike intellect, 

In science, and in cultivated art ; 

Yet on their faces, ever fixed, the glare 

Of painful, rayless, measureless despair. 

From Lucifer's black throne 



25 



Hell's flaunting banners waved, emblazoned with. 
The scene of many a conquest on their folds, 
Won by the legions of Beelzebub, 
Triumphant on Hell's central banner glared 
The loss of Paradise, where beauteous Eve, 
In pristine loveliness, fresh from the mould 
Of perfectness of feature and of form, 
Beached forth to pluck and eat forbidden fruit ; 
The tempting serpent near with forked tongue, 
With fixed, unwandering eyes, and ceaseless hiss, 
Incarnate fiend, swung like a pendulum, 
To sway and vibrate on the tree, and time 
Man's fall — Death's introduction in the world. 
As when the conflagration, that walks forth 
In sootheless, raging fury to despoil 
The doomed, devoted city, wraps his long, 
Red, flame-fringed arms about the crackling walls, 
The roofs, the lofty steeples and the domes, 
In hot, fierce, eager, passionate embrace, 
And to his blazing bosom madly holds 
His yielding victim ; gathering strength auew 
From out the very whirlwind of his rage, 
E'en Lucifer, convulsed with rage supreme 
And horrid to behold, did wrathful grasp 
The fractured thunderbolt down hurled by Jove, 
And high above his triple-head, the fiend 
Round and around the vivid lightning swung, 
Until it glowed like Saturn's blazing rings, 
Then hurled it back at cloud-compelling Jove, 
Who, predivining Lucifer's intent, 
Down simultaneous hurled a second bolt. 
These meeting midway in the dark abyss, 
Like mines exploded, lighting all the depths ; 
As when from old Vesuvius, belching flames 
Illumed Pompeii's doom-night on the plains. 
About the shield of Dis the lightning broke, 
And all the plains of Hell made visible. 

Behold, at intervals oases fair, 
And cooling springs, where fragrant flowers bloomed J 
These were the footsteps of the crucified 
Eedeemer who " descended into Hell," 
Attended by th' archangels, Raphael 
And Michael, who, at His divine command, 
In aftertime returning to Hell's depths, 



26 



Bore from the fiery flood the terrified 

And weeping Margaret, while following 

The tracks of Mephistopheles through all 

The howling and the clattering of Hell, 

In search of oath-hound Faust, eternal doomed 

To wander ever in eternal woes. 

Redeeming Love, omnipotent forbade 

That her hell-luring, deathless love bereft 

Of guardian angels and their care, should fix 

Her doom in everlasting floods of flame. 

The blazing eyes of lost, infernal hosts, 

Like Tantalus, gazed longing on the bloom 

Celestial springing from Plutonian plains 

"Wherever Christ and His archangels trod. 

The cooling springs perpetual mocked their cracked 

And parched throats, and forced infernal shrieks, 

As they raged to and fro with madd'ning leaps 

To break the fetters binding them to pain 

Of fiery woe and quenchless thirst, in sight 

Of cooling springs and fragrant vernal bloom. 

Dis' brazen shield, round as the full-orbed moon, 
Of massive weight and vast circumference, 
Upon each field a Gorgon head engraved, 
Colossal as the Sphyns and horrid to 
Behold, encircled round by hellish charms, 
Flashed in the thunder white, as flashed of old 
God-like Achilles' shield when long-haired Greek 
Rejoiced, and fated sons of Troy bewailed 
Brave Hector, chief Priamides, laid low ; 
For Dis, in dread of Jove's white thunderbolts, 
Had grasped his ample shield to guard against 
The wrathful Cloud-compeller's direful shafts. 
From out th' abyss these echoes floated up, 
Borne on the pinions of the Hell-born wind : 
" What to me are the evangels 

Of the white- winged singing angels 

On our revels shadows casting 

From their pinions everlasting ? 

What care I for the harmonic 

Grandeurs rolling in the tonic 
Chords of music round the Tbrone V 

Thence leaving Satan 'mid th' infernal imps, 
We onward sped to gain the distant orb, 



27 



Enveloped by impenetrable clouds, 
Which Jove about us like a mantle threw. 
Past suns and stars, through ether blue ; past zones 
Of brilliant asteroids, empurpled clouds, 
Whereon great bands of angels rode and sung 
The wondrous mysteries of the triune God ; 
Past dancing meteors flashing through the night ; 
Past sparkling planets with their silvery moons ; 
Past blazing comets trailing crystal skies, 
Until we reached an all-controlling sphere, 
Where life wore beauty passingly sublime, 
The one great center, energizing soul, 
Inspiring, moving all created worlds. 

O, orb supernal, where eternal dwell 
Angels of light, make eloquent my tongue, 
Thy glorious marvels worthy to tell. 

Methought the very pinnacle was reached 
Of all existence, whence all radiate lines 
From that one universal center shot 
Downward far through illimitable space, 
Ethereal center of translucent sphere ; 
That sphere the universe ; and standing there 
We gazed adown the radii, and saw, 
In intertwining orbits circling round, 
Millions of worlds harmoniously roll : 
The sun hung in the doorways of the west 
Pale as the moon. His borrowed radiance shed 
No lustre on that native fount of light. 

Juno and Pallas, with their panting steeds 
And smoking chariots, waited our approach. 
The golden apples which the goddess Earth, 
From her famed garden in Hesperides, 
Bestowed on Juno when she wedded Jove, 
Adorned the breast -plate of Minerva's belt ; 
For she had triumphed in th' immortal race. 
Here all the gods reined in their steeds, which, loosed, 
They bade upon ambrosial forage graze 
Within celestial gardens fresh and green. 
Then Jove, in glowing admiration o'er 
The landscape gazing, said, this is, indeed, 
Jehovah's golden " Star of Bethlehem." 

We trod upon a pavement of bright gold, 
And mingled with a mighty throng that moved 



28 

With cadenced step along the golden street — 
Adducent to a shining temple, far 
Surpassing in its grand magnificence 
All other temples, towers, and lofty domes. 
Upon the temple's lofty walls was carved 
In Hebrew character, embossed with fire, 

" Lift up thy head and be thou strong in trust ; 
For that which hither from the mortal world 
Arriveth must be ripened in our beam." 

Our onward march soon brought us to its doors. 

I stood within its alabaster walls : 

With fearful, trembling ecstasy I gazed 

Around that mighty amphitheater. 

My narrow vision scarce could grasp the maze 

Of aisles and far-receding corridors. 

The walls were lined with burnished diamond plates, 

And on their face, in panoramic scenes, 

Boiled pantomimic history of worlds. 

A mellow lustre, native to the air, 

Illumed the hollow of the vast recess, 

And with imponderable touches lit 

The alcoves, niches, and the arching dome. 

The vaulted roof, sustained by golden piers, 

Eeceding like the far-off canopy, 

Was fretted o'er by scintillating gems, 

Condensed and wrought from light original, 

Whose glitt'ring shamed the stars that hang o'er earth, 

As daylight doth a sickly taper's glare. 

A massive chain, hung from the loftiest point, 

Suspended an immense chronometer — 

Timekeeper of eternity! 'Twas called 

The Watch op Ages ! On its dial plate, 

In characters of light unchangeable, 

I read the seconds, minutes, hours, months, years, 

And centuries, which far adown the dim 

And shadowy vista of the past have rolled ; 

The hollow spiral chain, link after link, 

Showed Rome, Greece, Carthage and Assyria. 

My utmost stretch of vision Eden reached : 

What lay beyond a cloudy veil obscured. 

Its mighty hands remarked the flight of time ; 

Its pendulum with ceaseless motion swung, 

As if hung up to time and regulate 

The mighty enginery that animates 



29 



And wheels the planetary orbs throughout 
The boundless realms of universal space. 

Millions of people were assembled there, 

In costumes common to all lands and climes ; 

Fair ladies sat beside gay cavaliers, 

Displaying fashions of each century 

Since first the myriad worlds began their march. 

I heard all tongues that Babel's tower confused, 

Yet comprehensible as household words ; 

All seemed to hear and understand them well, 

And I, whatever were the words addressed, 

Heard and responded in the self- same tongue. 

My vision here ranged o'er th' unnumbered throng 

Now gathered in the amphitheater. 

There stood the Carthaginian Hannibal ; 

He leaned upon that blood-stained sword which waved 

His legions o'er untraversed Alpine heights 

Before Mount Calvary drank atoning blood ; 

There Alexander, who had wept because 

No other worlds remained to be subdued ; 

And Khaled, merciless, whose Moslem blade 

Converted full two hundred thousand souls. 

Napoleon, the terror of the world, 

Whose prison walls, while captive on the earth, 

Did bound the arching canopy and lose 

Themselves beyond the far horizon, stood 

Encircled by his marshals and Old Guard. 

Lycurgus, who was taught by Plato, and 

Isocrates, — he who ordained the laws 

Which gave to Sparta her immortal fame ,* 

Pythagoras, who first the music of 

The spheres proclaimed ; Bozzaris with his band 

Of Suliote warriors ; Spartacus, the chief 

Of gladiators ; La Fayette, the friend 

Of Freedom's temple risen in the West. 

Cromwell was there, surrounded by a host 

Of "Koundhead" followers; and Wellington, 

Who conquered on the plains of Waterloo. 

Moses, before whose rod the Eed Sea waves 

Were piled, as if in adamantine walls, 

To let the sons of Israel pass through, 

Ere refluent, ingulfing Pharoah's hosts. 

David, the Hebrew shepherd, bard, and king ; 

Samson the strong, who on his shoulders bore 



' 



30 



Alone the mighty gates of Gaza off; 

And Solomon, the wisest king of eld, 

Who reared the temple which the Son of God 

Chose as the symbol of the corporate shrine 

Of his incorporate Divinity. 

There Sir John Franklin, who with reckless prow 

Dashed 'mid the crystal, frozen, floating bergs 

To find what flaming torches still relume 

Th' Aurora Borealis in the North ; 

Confucius, Nathan, Solon, Socrates, 

Justinian, Blackstone, Chitty, Story, Coke, 

Prophets and seers of old- forgotten days, 

With monarchs, heroes, warriors, and wise 

Philosophers, and sages of all time, 

Each by his satellites encircled round, 

Sat watchful in that amphitheater. 

Near by, with faces placid and serene, 

Such as the brave and righteous ever wear, 

The Signers of the Declaration stood ; 

And in their center, high enthroned in state, 

Sat our immortal chieftain Washington ! 

Leonidas, the Spartan patriot king, 

With band of heroes, who the Persian hosts 

Of Xerxes fought at famed Thermopylae. 

They fell devoted but undying; 
The very gale their names seemed sighing ; 
The waters murmured of their name ; 
The woods were peopled with their fame ; 
The silent pillar, lone and grey, 
Claimed kindred with their sacred clay ; 
Their spirits wrapp'd the dusky mountain; 
Their memory sparkled o'er the fountain ; 
The meanest rill, the mightiest river, 
Rolled mingling with their fame forever. 

Beside the Spartan band and with them one 
In fellowship of glory, stood the band 
Whose blood made Balaklava holy ground. 

Stormed at with shot and shell 
Boldly they rode and well ; 
Into the jaws of death, 
Into the mouth of hell 
Rode the six hundred. 

In light of newer advent, but immersed 
With them in baptism of fraternal death, — 



31 



Kindred with them in forlorn valor, stood 
The martyred few who with brave Custer fell. 

Near by in light of ancient splendor stood 

Godlike Achilles with his Myrmidons, 

And glorious Hector, patriot chief of Troy, 

And by his side the fair Andromache ; 

There Argive Helen, by her primal lord, 

The valiant Menelaiis stood redeemed ; 

I turned to where great Dante stood, and asked 

What meant this host assembled from all climes ? 

Was this the temple of the gathered dead ? 

Did high and low, the evil and the good, 

Here mingle in eternal blessedness ? 

" It cannot be the universe of Hell ; 

For but e'en now, in flight with all the gods 

Upon the Muses' flowery chariot borue 

From high Olympus, I beheld far down 

Below the Milky Way on which did bound 

Th' immortal steeds, the murky orb on tire. 

It cannot be thy Purgatory, for 

Nowhere do I behold the Trinal steps, 

With rock of flashing diamond bright, whereon 

God's angel stood to guard the port which led 

Unto the Rocky Way. It cannot be 

Thy Paradise, for lo, thy Muse hath sung 

None ever hath ascended to that realm, 
Who hath not a believer been in Christ, 
Either before or after the blest limbs 
Were nailed upon the wood. 

And some, I know, 
Assembled here own not Messiah's name. 
Then Dante in a voice of love replied : 

"I seek a mount called Faith, whose summit shines 
In the clear atmosphere of truth above 
The clouds perpetually rolled in dark 
Obscuring volumes of high-colored wiles 
About its base, where wrestling mortals strive 
In Life's fierce battle on the dusky plains. 

Born in the region of diviner light 
Than gleams from pageantry of throned kings; 
Loyal alone to the imperial sway 
Of Progress in the Eight, monarch august, 
Before the thunder of whose conquering tread 



/< 



} 



32 

The ancient realms of darkness, crumbling fall. 

Eager to speed his onward march, and ban 

The rolling volumes of delusive wiles 

That hide the mount of Faith, I stand and gaze 

Upon the mirrored life of centuries ; 

And while I gaze, from out the wreck-strewn depths 

I hear the voices of the ages speak : " 

' In every empire of the world, the gems 

Clasped in the gold of royal diadems — 
Set there by stolid craft of Prejudice, 

Designed in Error's gloomy studio, 

And cut in light of Passion's lurid glow — 
Are tarnished with the blood of Sacrifice.' 

Then I to Dante said : " O, bard sublime ! how may I arise and con 
quer? What shall the armor be?" And he, answering: "What 
shall the armor be ? Truth ; truth in thought, in speech, in action ; 
truth to duty, to your fellows, yourself, aud your God. The more 
nearly you approach to absolute truth the more nearly you will ap- 
proach to absolute perfection. The end of learning is knowledge of 
truth, and the use of knowledge is excellence of action. 

' If I were a voice, an immortal voice 

That could travel the wide world through. 
I would fly on the wings of the morning light 
And speak to men with a gentle might 

And tell them to he true.' 

" If truth in man is a gem of great price, truth in woman is a gem- 
above all price and the chief jewel of her crown." 

Then Dante Alighieri led me forth 
That I might view the wondrous works of art 
Which all the temple's alcoves did adorn. 
I joined the sapient train and onward moved 
Through countless myriads congregated there 
Until we reached the vast and glittering throne 
Whereon immortal Shakspeare ever reigns. 
Half hid in shining clouds Melpomene 
Above the monarch hovered, scattering flowers 
Whose perfume fell in torrents round his head. 
Upon the panels of the eight-sided base 
Whereon the throne was reared, Pygmalion 
With his life-giving chisel had engraved 
The living forms of Hamlet and King Lear, 
Othello, Desdemona, and Macbeth, 
Coriolanus, Shy lock, Richard Third, 
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Cymbeline, 



33 



The Royal Henrys, Falstaff, and King John, 

Great Julius Caesar, Brutus, Antony, 

Midsummer Night's Dream's phantasies grotesque, 

And Romeo, by the viewless cords of love, 

Set with the seal of Death, to Juliet bound, 

By the divine afflatus all relumed 

With life and beauty, sentience, and strength, 

They seemed, like sentries incorruptible 

Standing upon the ramparts of his realm 

To hold the ages to allegiance. 

Proud monarch of the drama ! In thy verse 
Hath every phase of human passion found 
A voice and eloquence of utterance. 

There stood Cervantes, with the laurel crowned, 

Token of his victorious crusade 

Against the wind-mill giant—*' Chivalry." 

The youthful, austere Chatterton beside 

Him reveled in the marvels of antique 

Creations in the theater displayed, 

Which neither high-born Walpole's cold distrust 

Nor unrelenting poverty could blast ; 

Only immortal genius like his own 

Th' immortal harmony could grasp. 

Goldsmith and Gray were talking of the scenes 

That won from each the thrilling voice of song; 

In the " Deserted Village" one breathed out 

A tender reminiscence of the past. 

From vacant rooms the tenants had gone forth 

And only left a shadow of their forms, 

Only a lingering echo of their tread 

To prompt the poet's singing memories ; 

But in their graves they found a deathless fame 

In the sweet-flowing "Elegy" of Gray. 

Racine and Corneille, of dramatic fame, 

Were listening to some strangely wrought conceit 

Of Goethe's wild imagination born. 

Poe stood with melancholy face alone, 

As if from off the bust of Pallas, still 

He heard the black-plumed raven's " Nevermore." 

The sweet- voiced Moore almost with envy heard 

The wandering Exile's footsteps on the beach ; 

For Campbell's reaching Fancy had plucked forth 

From Erin's Isle the choicest fruits of song. 

Clay, Sumner, Webster, Thomas, and Calhoun 

3 DO 



34 

Kound Stonewall Jackson and McPherson stood, 
Discussing all Ambition's burning thirst, 
Which only draughts of crimson blood can quench. 
While Hawthorne listened to the bards' discourse, 
Over against the Temple's eastern front 
Through the dissolving mist, Benevolence 
Beamed suddenly from forth the tl Great Stone Face !" 
Beholding, all grew still, — inly convinced 
That though they had the gift of prophecy, 
And though they had all knowledge and all faith, 
So that they could remove the mountains hence, 
And had not charity, then they were nought. 

As from his throne the monarch Shakspeare gazed 
Upon the kindred bards that crowned him king, 
Bending to listen to their speech, anon 
Enriching by some aptly spoken word 
Th' elaboration of their varied themes, 
The Hebrew shepherd, bard and king approached. 
Instinctively the reverent throng apart 
Divided, that the Psalmist might pass through. 
In Shakspeare's hand he placed the palm and crowned 
Him with the laurel wreath. Then they conversed 
Of Hebrew art, philosophy aud song, 
And of the myriad bards unknown to fame 
(Since rose the Temple of Jerusalem) 
Whose "Footprints on the sand of time" have left 
The impress of the spirit of their age. 

A wistful look of earnest interest 
Upon the old King's royal visage beamed, 
While Shakspeare thus the train of thought pursued: 
"As by the fossil fauna late exhumed, 
Or imprint of the palm or fern upon 
Th' enduring rock, the skilled expert discerns 
The climate and the kindred products of 
Their sev'ral eras; so may we discern 
From the still living fragments of old song 
The spirit and the temper of the times. 
When they were breathed, though millenary dust 
Obscure the name and fame of them that breathed. 
Thus shall the ll Song of Hiawatha " show 
To future ages the primeval race, 
Though then extinct, which erst untutored roamed 
Through pathless wildernesses in the west ; 
So shall the desolating tread of caste 






35 



On 'Aylrner's Field,' when progress shall have poured 
Its Lethean hillows on the pride of birth, 
Raise from the dust the moldering skeleton 
Of pompous rank by feudal bondage won. 

Tbe golden fancies and the pure, chaste style 
That mark their verse, illumined by the fire 
Of noble impulse blazing in its flow, 
Have won for Longfellow and Tennyson, 
Within the realm of the immortal bards, 
A crown of honor and a robe of light 
Which, for their advent, with a welcome wait." 

As Shakspeare closed, the bards approving all, 
Near by them Paganini woke the soul 
Of melody in the sweet " Song of Gold." 

In company with the sapient train 

I onward mov'd enraptured by the scenes. 

We passed by Aristotle, Socrates; 

By Romulus and Remus, the twin-sons 

Of Rhea Sylvia, by Mars begot ; 

By Alcibiades, Herodotus, 

Demosthenes, Mazzini and Plutarch; 

By Plato, iEsop, old philosophers, 

Ancient historians and orators ; 

And the more modern sages, Audubon, 

Agassiz, Franklin ; and a thousand kings 

And potentates whose fame the bards have sung. 

Hero Socrates and Plato held converse 

Upon the woudrous beauty, majesty. 

And fadeless scenes upon the burnished walls 

Within the Theater of the Universe ; 

Then of that changeless law which holds its seat 

In great Jehovah's bosom, and whose voice 

Rings in the harmony that moves the world. 

Here solitary walked great Constantine, 

Th' imperial monarch, whose ambition gave 

First legal basis to the Church of Rome ; 

There, Henry, son of Richmond, panoplied 

In vestments of Pontific dignity 

Usurped, stood as a monument of strength 

Unbridled, and of passion unsubdued,— 

Founder of English Catholicity : 

Elizabeth, his daughter both by blood 

And native character, beside him stood ; 

Near by, the cultured, beautiful, serene, 



36 



But fated Lady Jane, nine days a queen ; 

The giant Luther, great iconoclast, 

By birth a rustic, "but in strength a king, 

Of dauntless valor and unbending will: 

iEgisthus and false Clytemnestra, pale 

And haggard, wandered still pursued 

And haunted by Tisiphone, the blood 

Avenger of King Agamemnon's death. 

We reached the Temple of Fame, a monument 

To Pope who wrought into a golden tongue 

Great Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. 

"The Eastern front was glorious to behold 

With diamond flaming and barbaric gold." 

Here Homer paused before these tributes, mute, 

Paid by a modern bard to ancient song. 

Clear flashed those scenes before the poets' gaze 

By whom rehearsed long centuries ago : 

As when to Dido's halls, iEneas came 

A wandering fugitive from vanquished Troy, 

Tossed on tempestuous seas by hostile winds, 

And in her picture galleries beheld 

Himself and comrades reproduced, and saw 

Again the walls of Troy o'erturned, himself 

Escaping, Hector slain, Creusa lost, 

By Libyan artist vividly portrayed. 

Within the Temple of Fame, assembled throngs, 
In rapt attention, gazed upon a stage 
Where Kean, Macready and the elder Booth, 
And many celebrated actors from 
All ages and all climes, portrayed 
The tragedy of Maximilian's fate. 
I saw Europia's kings, from many of 
Whose veins the blood of Maximilian flowed, 
Intently gazing on the tragedy. 
I heard the player in the Emperor's role 
Soliloquize upon the omens thus : 
" The lurid sky glowers ominous above, 
As if the sun in anger frowned upon 
The throne where erst his worshipers alone 
Held sway : ere Cortez, with his armored few, 
Forced with the sword, upon the Aztec realm, 
The first faint glimm'rings of the source whence springs 
The light which Montezuma worshiped in 
The sun, nor knew of other source bevond. 



37 



Along the snowy Cordilleras' heights, 

I see the fires of revolution glow : 

Juarez with his Aztecs offers up 

Oblations on their altars to the sun. 

O ! thou eternal God, great source of light, 

Who didst th' anointed anciently endow 

With grace, with wisdom, and with sovereign power, 

Endow me with the wisdom to reign o'er 

This wasted realm, by anarchy distraught ; 

Or if the royal blood of Europe be 

Not meet for the redemption of the state, 

Grant that its sacrificial flow appease 

The rage and desolation of revolt, 

And bring the land of my adoption peace." 

The next scene brought the melancholy role 

Of the depressed Carlotta, seeing with 

Prophetic vision harbingers of woe ; 

I heard the player of the r61e thus speak : 

" I cannot of its fears my mind divest, 

Nor penetrate the gloom that gathers round. 

Last night as I in slumber dreaming lay, 

I saw the body of the Emperor 

Encoffined ; and I heard the people shout — 

Oh! how they shouted ! 'He is murdered' — 

Oh! coward heart, be still thy throbbing — hark! 

What sound is that which breaks upon the night, 

As if the very air were cracked and crumbling ? 

Strange horrors now appall me, and I know 

Not what to do or whither I must fly. 

If there be fluids, as we know there are, 

Which, conscious of the dreadful coming storm, 

In their glass arteries shrink up, and strive 

To hide themselves, may not the blood as well 

Be conscious of the thirsty, unseen hand 

That comes to let it flow, and in that hour 

With icy coldness, back recede, and knock 

For entrance at the doorways of the heart ? 

' There is a tide in the affairs of men 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,' 

So Marcus Brutus said upon that night 

Wherein his evil spirit did appear. 

The flood of which he spake bore him unto 

But bitter fortune on the bloody plains 

Of Philippi. Perhaps the flooding tide 

Whereon he is afloat may sweep Mm to 



38 



' That bourne from which no traveler returns.' 
Hark! pealing, dirge -like, o'er the dark blue wave 
The midnight bells are tolling for the brave : 
Oh ! God, 'tis done, my aching heart knows well, 
Too well, the doom these throbbing pseans tell : 
Black billows of despair upon me roll — 

Affrighted reason quits my frantic soul." 

***** 

A sudden peal rang on the startled ear — 

The Watch of Ages tolled a nation's knell. 

Then Dante Alighieri gazing in 

The mist of ages gone, like one who sees, 

As in a vision, suffering and sin, 

Thus painted Desolation's cruel reign : 

" The powers of earth are subject to decay ; 
They have their birth, their growth, their life and death. 
As forest oaks are nourished by the mold 
Of trees ancestral, perished and decayed, 
So from the dust of crumbling empires spring 
New empires, flourishing in strength of youth 
Until imperial glory's noon is reached ; 
Then, at the heart corrupt, unseen decline 
Begins, and gnaws with silent teeth, until, 
Outspreading, but a hollow shell remains ; 
When, as the oak whose days are numbered, rent 
From its foundation by the tempest's breath, 
Down, crashing 'mid the tender saplings, reels, 
And scathes or crushes many in its fall, 
So falls decaying empire's hollow shell ; 
And growing States, its shadow underneath, 
Are startled at .the sound. While some are bruised, 
And some are crushed beueath the cumbrous weight,. 
Yet others send forth roots to pierce the mold, 
And thrive upon the fallen state's decay. 
Thus life is ever feeding upon death. 

The length of days allotted to the tree 
Of liberty is as the strength with which 
Its roots are fixed within the people's hearts, 
And as corruption's gnawing fangs are banned 
From its own heart ; as it is pruned 
Of cumbrous branches and of surplus growth ; 
As cultured by untiring industry ; 
As warmed by sunbeams of intelligence, 
And watered from the springs of charity. 
Valor and Love should wed ; their offspring, Faith 






39 



And Virtue, should be crowned with knowledge, and 
Endowed as guardians of Liberty. 

Until the dawning of millennial morn ; 
While sin and passion throng the human heart ; 
While greedy av'rice feeds on poverty ; 
While mad ambition drives his brazen car, 
Without remorse, o'er meek humility ; 
While lust, in conquest, honest love outspeeds ; 
While truth is fiction, falsehood, current coin ; 
While might makes right, and wrong in law is mailed j 
While folly lures, and wisdom drives away ; 
While a great name is the ideal god, 
And the Great God but an ideal name, 
Shall mortal be the Tree of Liberty." 

The voice of Dante died upon the ear 
As dies an ocean of rich melody, 
When waves of sound receding in the mist 
Are further — further borne away, till naught 
But echoes answering from the distant hills 
Vibrate declining in the eager ears ; 
Yet when the waves of sound have ceased, within 
The chambers of the sonl, their sweetness still, 
Like some fond ling'ring spirit, waits to sing. 

Now turning from the Temple we passed on 
To where famed iEschylus and Shelley 'tranced 
Th' Olympian gods with passages and scenes 
From the "Unbound Prometheus," while we paused 
To gaze upon the scene, the glance of Jove 
Standing supreme among th' Olympian gods, 
On Homer fell ; " Behold," he said, " the scribe 
Whose record teems with our immortal fame — 
His own imperishable monument. 
Though to his sightless eyes Aurora brought 
No radiance upspringing in the East, 
Yet through the open windows of his soul 
Calliope flew with her flaming torch 
To guide the flight of his immortal song. 
Green be th' ambrosial fields where walk his feet — 
Fadeless the aureola round his brow." 
Then gazed we on fairer faces and forms, 
Where Joan of Arc and Sappho, the Tenth Muse, 
Clothed in celestial robes conversing walked. 
The Maid of Orleans, from her wings of flame, 
On which she flew to immortality, 



40 



Drew forth, a fiery plume which Sappho took 
To write in burning words the infamy 
Of Warwick and Beauvais. Matrons and maids 
"Whose names shine forth like stars in history 
Around them thronged ; Evangeline, the fair 
Arcadian maid, whose wandering feet pursued 
Lost Gabriel no more ; fond Josephine, 
The haughty monarch's loving bride cast off 
At Ms resistless ruler's rude behest — 
Volting Ambition's voice ; Eoman Lucrece ; 
Virginia : the beauteous Capulet, 
Whose heart o'erleaped hereditary hate, 
Obedient to the thrilling voice of Love ; 
Fair Isabella, queen of proud Castile 
Who sacrificed her royal jewels on 
The altar of Spanish marine research. 
And Beatrice, Dante's youthful bride, 
Wearing a crown immortal. 

Passing thence, 
Vast multitudes in endless trains moved on, 
As if illimitable ages gone 
Were passing in review their heritors. 
J saw Lorenzo, the magnificent ; 
And Tycho Brahe with Galileo 
In converse on the rolling of the spheres. 
The author of the " Christmas Carols " walked 
With Burns, the Highlanders' beloved bard; 
Firdousa, famed bard of the Orient ; 
Josephus, who transcribed his people's woes 
In pay and interest of their conquerors ; 
Albert, Victoria's well-beloved prince, 
With Nelson, Perry, Farragut, and Foote ; 
The daring Cushing, bravest of the brave ; 
Mahomet, founder of the Moslem faith, 
With Bunyan, Sophocles, and Rabelais 
The doctrines of the Koran canvassing ; 
Cassandra, too, with burning eloquence, 
Portrayed to Lope de Vega the chagrin, 
The pain, the sorrow of the fatal gift 
Of prophecy unhonored, and of fate 
Revealed, but unbelieved. She cried aloud : 
" Alas ! they little knew the scenes of woe 
That oft had made a fountain of mine eyes. 
Their ears had never drunk the piercing shrieks 



41 



That to my ears forever had untuned 

The melody of hearthstone rhapsodies. 

Their dreams had never pictured agonies 

Which I had seen, and heard, and felt, and known. 

The murderers of Agamemnon oft 

Stand round me with their gibing taunts, as, when 

Before the altar I became his bride, 

I saw him seated at the banquet board 

Amid his guests, and standing o'er them their 

Assassins, ready for his victim ; each 

With fiendish malice, ever and anon, 

They stop and glare, with horrid mien, at me. 

Great God! I see them now; their red eyes glow 

Like meteors in the canopy of hell ; 

Their breath is colder than boreal gales 

Which sweep at midnight from the Arctic zone. 

As died the accents of the Prophetess, 

Behold, two stately and majestic forms 

Walked arm in arm in earnest converse rapt. 

One had unfolded a new world to view, 

Sailing against a superstitious tide 

Of ignorance into the unknown west. 

The guerdon his ungrateful sovereign gave 

Was ward and fetters in the dungeon's gloom. 

The other in the might and majesty 

Of sterling manhood on the New World's soil 

The tree of Liberty had planted and 

Matured against the pride, the opulence 

And valor of Europia's chivalry : 

Though born a slave, yet monarch in the sway 

He bore o'er passion, prejudice and caste, 

He won the richest province owned by France 

From wasting anarchy and foreign foes, 

And held it for th' imperial sovereign. 

That sovereign's guerdon was starvation in 

A dungeon. 

O ! Columbia, hide thy face 
While the inventor and the savior of 
Thy verdant sister in the sunny seas 
Pass in their glory by. 

When Ferdinand 
And great Napoleon by the Lethean waves 
Of Time and Progress shall be overwhelmed, 
Their fame declining into infamy, 
The names of Christopher Columbus and 



42 



Of Toussaint L'Ouverture shall live enshrined 
Within the hearts of Freedom's champions. 

While yet I stood with soul absorbed in all 
I saw, great Dante cried, " Look thou upon 
The holy scenes that flash in splendor o'er 
Yon glitt'ring walls ; there do the oracles 
Of God reveal what man is fain to know." 

Like quivering moonbeams on a glassy sea, 
Or like the vivid lightning through rent clouds, 
Before the dreadful thunder's crash and roll, 
Immortal pictures flashed out on the scene. 
Had I the wealth of Dante's great conceit, 
Far-reaching to the bounds of mortal ken ; 
Or tongue or pen whose eloquence surpassed 
Immortal Homer's rhapsodies, yet could 
I neither worthily conceive the scenes, 
Nor aptly utter or portray the gleams 
Historic and prophetic playing o'er, 
And flashing from the burnished diamond plates. 

Here belched a thund'rous battle of the gods ; 

There, fleeing phantoms, sped the wand'ring Jew ; 

Where desolation swept the checkered scene 

Wept Zion's daughter o'er Jerusalem. 

Here bending o'er her first-born, mother-love 

With face irradiate, mantled o'er by flush 

Of joy, or settling in serene content ; 

There meek-eyed Charity withdrew the veil, 

Disclosing Christ and her whom none condemned, 

Bade by her Saviour " Go and sin no more ; " 

Here Jupiter with roses crowned, from high 

Olympus, drove the railing Momus forth j 

There JEsop through the shadowy forest roamed, 

In converse with all nature animate ; 

The prophet Daniel, glory- crowned, whose faith 

Stamped calm serenity upon his brow, 

Whose godlike gaze, and heart with strings of steel 

O'erawed the raging lions in their den, 

And paralyzed their fanged but pulseless jaws ; 

There the Madonna Di Foligno, wrought 

By Raphael of Urbino ; — not the thin 

And unsubstantial canvas, deftly swept 

By mortal touch, with fading earthly hues, 

And only shadowy semblance of relief, 



43 



As borne upon the walls of Vatican ; 

For earth-bound art vouchsafed to Eaphael 

But murky reflex of conceptions grand 

Of his immortal genius begot ; 

But in the walls of this theatric hall, 

Where execution might keep pace with thought, 

Th' untrammeled hand of Eaphael had eclipsed 

Conception with the grace, the life, the breath, 

Tbe wondrous mingling of Divinity 

With virgin purity and mother- love, 

Transfiguring Madonna perfected ; 

Here the Archangel Michael vanquishing 

The Lord of Hell ; there Ananias led 

To death with false Sapphira ; Moloch drunk 

Upon the plains of Tophet with the blood 

Of Innocents, by Herod's harsh decree 

Destroyed ; the deluge overwhelming all 

The world, through Heaven's opened windows down 

By wrathful hand of great Jehovah poured : 

Swift following came Leonardo's grand 

Depiction of a Saviour's sacrifice; 

Christ on the verge of death, surrounded by 

His followers who ate and drank his blood 

And body ; fixed amazement sat upon 

Their visages, while on his face serene 

Calm resignation settled like a dove. 

Wondrous twin pictures of Divinity ! 

Wrathful Jehovah drowning sin from earth, 

And merciful Messiah saving man 

From everlasting penalty of sin. 

Then came the garden of Gethsemane : 

The blood-red moon hung in the angry sky, 

Betokening the morrow's bloody deeds. 

To lurid heavens the Saviour raised his eyes 

In agony of prayer. Great drops of blood 

Oozed from his pallid face, while bending low 

Beseeching that the cup of bitterness 

Might pass, yet bowing to the Father's will. 

Near by, Jerusalem with spires of gold, 

The Fortress of Antonio upon 

The rock beside the temple stood,- within 

Was Pontius Pilate's judgment hall. 

Upon Mount Zion, on the other side, 

The palace of the Tetrarch Herod stood ; 

And thither, 'mid a clamoring multitude, 



44 



Was Jesus borne for Herod to pronounce 

Upon His guilt or innocence ; then crowned 

With thorns, and clothed in purple robes, with jeers 

And mockings and revilings, He was led 

Back to the court of Pilate for decree, 

And Pilate wrote in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, 

This accusation for the crucifix, — 

"Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivd^orvm." 

That vision passed, and lo! a sad- voiced train 

Of singing pilgrims, breathing forth in strains, 

As 'twere a well-tuned harp of sweet accord 

Struck by the hand of grief, and quivering 

Responsive to the spirit of the touch. 

I listened with intensest eagerness, 

And "Miserere mei Deus" heard 

With strangely sweet, though sad, vibrations riae 

Funebrious on the sympathetic air. 

* * # # * 

As faded into air the lingering strains, 
The crucifixion came swift-following, 
And sudden darkness settled like a pall ; — 
As if the Holy Ghost, God's Robe of Light 
Ineffable, in rayless, spotless folds 
Lay waiting to enshroud him for the tomb. 
Terrific earthquakes shook the blackened night ; 
The cleft rocks groaned with harshly grating sound ; 
Graves yawned, and from their hollow depths tho dead 
Walked forth in phosphorescent garments clad ; 
Horrific apparitions ! man in form — 
In substance only shining, spectral shades. 
Thick gloom, despair, and blackest darkness reigned. 
Then came the rent tomb, whence emergent walked 
A risen and immortal God, in light 
Unspeakable, and full of glory bathed. 

The changing scenes brought next before our view 
That grand and terribly magnificent 
Portrayal of the final Judgment Day 
By Michael Angelo, translated and 
Transfigured. On the Great White Throne Christ sat, 
And judged the world, by angels round engirt. 
The seven angels with sev'n trumpets stood, 
There on the left the fallen and the lost 
Inheritors of deep damnation and 



45 

Of untried woes : Grief, terror, and despair 
Froze on each visage like the ice of death. 
Here were the rent rocks, there the opening graves, 
And Minos passing sentence on the damned. 

O ! genius, that grasped the rainbow tints 
And framed them into great Jehovah's praise. 
Swift-coming pictures, countless as the stars 
Of heaven, played upon the burnished walls. 
Celestial visions ! how ye fled my grasp 
Of touch and sight, as flitting sunbeams pass, 
And only left a sparkle ar>d a glint 
Of your supernal glory darkling in 
The lonely chambers of my memory ! 

Amazed, bewildered, and perplexed by all 
I saw and heard, I turned once more and sought 
From Dante inspirations crowning light. 
" Behold," he said, " The Play of Destiny !" 

Methought that Handel's grand Messiah rose, 
And, like an ocean of rich melody, 
In swelling billows of sweet concord rolled 
Throughout the amphitheater's vast nave. 
The curtain rose, and on the stage a choir 
Of myriad white-winged angels stood. 
A waving veil of shining vapor hung 
Beyond the choir, translucent, liquid, through 
Whose folds supernal light unceasing streamed, 
And trenchant seraphim unrippling passed, 
Careening in the light, the vap'rous veil 
Exhaled harmonious hues responsive to 
The concord of the oratorio 
And pealing from ten thousand choristers, 
Enrapturing alike the eye and ear, 
As all the angels and archangels sang : 

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the 
King of Glory shall come in. 

Who is the King of Glory? 

The Lord strong and mighty : the Lord mighty in battle. 

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the 
King of glory shall come in. 

"Who is the King of Glory ? 

The Lord of hosts ; He is the King of Glory. 
Chorus. 

" Hallelujah ! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. 

The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His 
Christ ; and He shall roign forever and ever ; 

King of kings, and Lord of lords ; Hallelujah !" 



46 



As past in softest melody the last 

Expiring note of that triumphal hymn, 

The waving vap'rous veil dissolved, and lo ! 

A city of surpassing splendor lay 

Before us, with its spires and pinnacles 

All specked with gold ; and flashing in the "beams 

Of supernatural light, uplifted high, 

Shone many a cross of gold, that spoke 

Of temples dedicated there to God. 

The Rock of Ages in the city stood ; 

Upon the Rock of Ages founded, rose 

A temple vast, transparent, strong, secure — 

Temple of Truth, 'twas called— old as the cross 

On Calvary's heights. 

Diana's Temple huilt 
At Ephesus, a tribute from the hearths 
And homes, the willing hearts and ready hands 
Devoted to the goddess chaste, whose ward 
Preserved home altars 'gainst marauding lust ; 
Ionic columns, Parian marble jets, 
Green jasper walls, cut and embellished by 
Etruscan, Doric, and Romanic art, 
Where Mongols, Greeks, and Romans sacrificed 
In worship of their favorite deity j 

Saint Peter's Church at Rome, most ancient and 
Magnificent cathedral, reared above 
The hallowed ground where, raoldering, repose 
The sacred ashes of the martyred saint. 
Four score and ten years from the Saviour's birth 
Tbe Bishop Anacletus memorized 
Tbe spot of his great predecessor's tomb 
By building up an oratory there. 
Two centuries more and sixteen years passed by 
And Constantine, the Roman Emperor, 
Built a basilica above the tomb. 
When other gliding centuries had lapsed, 
The modern masters of Italian art 
Upreared and wondrously adorned the grand 
Cathedral, now the glory, peerless pride, 
The matchless structure of the modern world. 

Not Dian's twice-built dome at Ephesus, 
Whose very site Time's blinding dust hath hid ; 
Not Rome's cathedral, heavenward pillared high, 
Like arch of glory raised above the tomb 



47 

Of saint low slumbering in the earth beneath ; 

Not these combined with all the trophies won 

By earthly art could with Truth's Temple vie. 

In length or breadth, in loftiness or depth, 

In beauty, grandeur or sublimity. 

Twelve lofty towers 'bove reach of mortal skill 

Gleamed in tlr eternal beams white as the snow ; 

Seven fronts wide as a mountain ranged, 

Whose pointed gables tapered 'mid the stars, 

In arabesque wrought by immortal touch ; 

Rich pillared balconies of purest gold 

Environed all the Temple's vast extent. 

The holy Temple bore upon each front 

In blood-red letters the divine command, 

By John the Baptist preached, saying " Repent 

Ye for Heaven's kingdom is at hand." 

Sev'n avenues into the Temple led 

Symbolic of sev'n ages of mankind ; 

And branching from these avenues, like roots 

Of giant trees, were many thoroughfares, 

By countless bands of advent pilgrims thronged, 

From many sep'rate kingdoms of the earth. 

The Arch of Triumph crowned my entrance-way; 
And there an angel stood with holy book, 
In which each advent must record his name, 
From whence he came, and whither bound, belief, 
And what he seeks to do and what to know. 
Therein my name, "Phantasmagoria," 
I wrote ; and whence I came, the " Mortal World," 
And whither bound — the Great White Throne of God ; 
My creed, that " God the Father made the world, 
And me, that God the Son did me redeem 
And all mankind, that God, the Holy Ghost, 
Me sanctified and all the people of God ; " 
"Arise and conquer," what I sought to do, 
And what I sought to know, " should I, by Grace 
Divine, inherit life eternal ? " 

Then 
The angel pointing toward the Temple, said 

" Go ask and unto thee it shall be giv'n, 
Go seek and thou shalt find, knock, and it shall 
Be opened unto thee. The Temple now 
Approach with trust in God and faith supreme." 

Within the Temple's courts were crystal streams 
That wound meandering over silv'ry beds ; 



48 

And sparkling fountains cast their spray aloft. 
To float in air like beauteous showers of pearl. 
Seven angels at seven golden gateways sat, 
Each on a massive throne, from blood-stone carved, 
To warn the people of seven " mortal sins," 
And terrors of the Hall of Eblis, in 
Whose dark saloons and gloomy corridors, 
Forever wander with their hearts of fire 
Sin's shallow devotees. 

The archway o'er 
The entrance to the inner courts was called 
The "ARCH OF ECCE HOMO," from the dark, 
Grim masonry at Pontius Pilate's gates, 
'Neath which our Saviour, crowned with thorns, and clad 
In purple mockery of royal garb, 
Was led by Pilate to the raging crowd, 
To whom he " Ecce homo " cried, " Behold 
The man," and thus to death delivered him. 

Engraved npon the curving arch appeared 
The new commandments, by our Saviour given 
Unto the lawyer of the Pharisees, 
Who, seeking to entrap or tempt Him, asked, 
"Which is the great commandment in the law?" 
And Jesus answ'ring said unto him, " Thou 
Shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart 
And all thy mind, and all thy soul : this is 
The first and great commandment in the law : 
The next is like unto it ; thou shalt love 
Thy neighbor as thyself. Upon these two 
Commandments all the law and prophets hang." 

Uprising in the temple's very walls 
This arch stood forth as a remembrancer, 
That they must pass beneath the yoke of scorn, 
And tread the vale of deep humility, 
And bear the cross, who would at length, like Christ, 
Arise and conquer with the sword of Truth. 

Within that temple, Lo ! I saw reared up, 
In color like to sun-illumined gold, 
A ladder stretching to high Heaven from earth, 
With countless rounds that flashed like bars of gold. 
It from the Rock of Ages glittering sprang ; 
And nearest Heaven the ten golden rounds 
Did symbolize the Ten Commandments given 
By God, to man, from Sinai's sacred top. 
Above each round the cross of Calvary shone, 



49 



On which, in figure fadeless and revered, 

The blood-traced letters | H S appeared. 

From the first round a voice spake forth these words : 

"I am the Lord thy God, and thou shalt have 

No other Gods but me." Each one of those 

Ten rounds spake forth accordant with its role. 

Above the fifth, commanding every man 

" Honor thy father and thy mother, that 

Thy days may be long in the land," stood, with 

A flaming two-edged sword, the angel Death. 

I saw the ladder flooded with a light 
Ineffable, and countless seraphim, 
In radiant armor and apparel clad, 
Ascend and descend on the shining rounds, 
And bid the poor in spirit and the pure 
In heart, the meek, the lowly and reviled, 
Arise and conquer in the Saviour's name. 
For has he not to all his people said, 
"Lo! unto him that overcometh will 
I give to eat the Tree of Life, which is 
The middest of the Paradise of God." 

Above the topmost round Sandalphon stood — 
Angel of prayer — petitions to receive 
From contrite hearts, and bear them up unto 
The Great White Throne and Him that sat on it. 
I heard the dying with a loud voice cry, 
As through the dark and shadowy vale of death 
They passed, " O Lord, have mercy upon us." 
These dying prayers I saw Sandalphon catch. 
His hands transformed them to immortal bloom, 
And bore their fragrance of devotion up 
In viewless volumes to the Throne of God, 
At whose decree the meek petitioners 
Were set as stars within His firmament. 

They who approach Truth's Temple doors, and would 
The shining stairway climb within, must cull 
Some typic armor out and put it on ; 
For otherwise they might not dare attempt 
To tread the upward-leading golden steps. 
The armors in that temple's vestibules, 
With quaint designs, rare workmanship ornate, 
Bore each its own exponent and intent, 
And chief among them hung the Blood-Red Cross. 

There was the armor which Bohemian Huss 
4 DO 



50 

Wore, when around him rolled the fires of Hell ; 
He who, while dying at the stake, exclaimed, 
" The fire which you are kindling up this day 
Will light all Europe ! " God ! whose smile divine 
All Paradise with glory floods, whose frown 
Like a thick pall of darkness lowers above 
The overarching canopy of Hell, 
Thy spirit did sink deep down in his heart, 
Kindling a quenchless fire, which yet shall burn 
Throughout the generations yet to come. 

There too the blood-stained armor hung which proved 
A shield and buckler to the mighty heart 
Of Christian striving with Apollyon, 
Like unto Christian's but with clearer light, 
Shone forth the robe of deep humility, 
Which wrapped the thief upon the cross, and bore 
Him, that day, into Paradise with Christ. 

God grant that, when the Judgment day shall come, 
I may in armor of humility, 
Like Christian, or the dying thief, upon 
The golden stairs, Arise and Conquer, too. 

The sons of earth thronged in vast multitudes 
Around the Rock of Ages, pressing on 
To gain admittance through the vestibules, 
And climb the shining ladder to the skies, 
Many bowed down in supplicating prayer 
Invoked the blood of Christ, the Son of God ; 
And thousands marching onward, glorified 
Jesus in that impassioned hymn of faith 
Whose harmony celestial ever rolls. 

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 

Let me hide myself in Thee ; 

Let the water and the blood, 

From Thy side, a healing flood, 

Be of sin the double cure, 

Save from wrath and make me pure. 

Should my tears forever flow 
Should my zeal no languor know, 
This for sin could not atone ; 
Thou must save, and Thou alone ; 
In my hand no price I bring, 
Simply to Thy cross I cling. 

"While I draw this fleeting breath, 
"When mine eyelids close in death, 
When I rise to worlds unknown 



51 



And behold Thee on Thy throne, 
Rock of Ages cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee. 

***** 

Within the temple many courts appeared 
With ornature of every land, but each 
Transparent as fine glass, and each did lead 
Unto The sacred way, bathed with the light 
Of Paradise. Within each court I saw 
The armor of the Blood-Red Cross, wherein 
The sons and daughters of the earth might rise 
And conquer at the judgment- day. 

Upon 
The margin of each court, a liquid wall, 
As 'twere a polished mirror rose, whose depths 
Were set with scenes imperishably wrought 
From marble or from ivory, by some 
Immortal sculptor in his studio 
Celestial, by whose art omnipotent 
The flame of life flashed from the eyes, blushed on 
The cheeks, and quivered in the lips of stone. 
The forms seemed sentient and the fields of green, 
The golden streets, and gorgeous palaces, 
'With domes of silver, pinnacles of light, 
Beneath a diamond-studded canopy. 
All shimmering in light ineffable, 
Mocked vivid nature by the semblance of 
More vivid life in animated stone. 
Yet in those mirrors by th' eternal fixed, 
Eternal, changeless, ineffaceable, 
These scenes reflected on the bordered courts 
Their own conceptions of eternal life, 
The essence and the grounds of faith, the rites 
To be performed to gain the central court 
Whence springs the golden ladder to the skies. 
Here, bending from the sky Madonna reached 
Her mediate hand to lead her orators ; 
While bands of virgin devotees, and priests 
In gold and purple robes, perpetuate 
Upon their sacred altars taper lights 
First by the ancient fathers kindled on 
Their altars in the Roman Catacombs ; 
There, flowed a type of Jordan on whose banks 
A multitude of worshipers attend, 
While in the current stands a penitent 
Led by the priest to wash his guilt away ; 



52 

Here, in a forest, 'neath the canvas spread, 

By glimmering torch-light, thousands worshiping, 

While from the mirror's tell-tale depths is heard 

An echo of resounding jubilee ; 

There, staid and void of ceremony, stand 

Unkneeling, unimpulsive, worshipers 

As if fulfilling their immutable, 

Eternal destiny, eternal fixed ; 

Here, saints bowed down before the Great White Throne, 

In endless anthems chant Jehovah's praise ; 

Here, mid celestial mansions seraphs walk 

On golden pavements, shining in the light 

And glory of the Son and Holy Ghost ; 

There, sailing on their gorgeous wings, come bands 

Of singing angels with their golden harps. 

Within an ancient court whose avenue 
Led to the Temple of Jerusalem, 
I saw a gleaming light whose radiant shafts 
Kose luminous around the letter 




On the Mosaic pavement of that court 
Whoever walked, bore on his face the light 
Of knowledge unrevealed save in what beams 
Of light that mystic symbol is enshrined. 
I turned from this mysterious court and gazed 
Again upon the Ladder of Light which from 
The Eock of Ages sprang, and lo ! I saw 
Three shining rounds 'bove all I saw before, 
Eising in order, Faith, Hope, Charity. 

One court still higher in antiquity 
Appeared. Within its mirrored walls arose 
The fragrant incense of burnt offerings, 
The flaming bush, and Sinai's thunderings. 
But they who walked the pavements of this court 
Had shut the entrance to the Central Court 
And barred it with the cross. Irresolute 
Their hosts were strewn 'mid all the avenues — 
A nation without country, scattered wide — 
A principality without a prince. 



53 

A mirrored wall, its own distinctive scenes 

Eeflects upon the multitudes that throng 

Each court, all trending toward the central court. 

Amid lh' approaches leading up to these 
Now gazing, I beheld thronged avenues 
Extending far in tortuous windings, sprung 
From chaos and in chaos vanishing, 
Approaching near, but entering never in 
The central court whence rose the golden steps. 
Where'er they crossed the pathway to the straight 
And narrow courts, the pavement stones were marked 
With crimson stains and blanching skeletons. 
Upon the mirrored walls that rose along 
These avenues, I saw distinctive scenes 
Which marked the faith, the hopes and destinies 
Of the innumerable hosts that to 
And fro were marching on the broad highways. 
Here, rolled the car of Juggernaut, and there, 
Flamed up the Hindoo widow's funeral pyre ; 

The mirrored walls about the central court 
No gorgeous insignia bore : simply 
A cross, — token of sorrow, sacrifice 
And death, price of redeeming love : above 
A manger shone the Star of Bethlehem, — 
Heaven's signal heralding a Saviour's birth ; 
Jehovah out of chaos forming worlds, 
And all illumined by the Holy Ghost : 
Creative Majesty, Eedeeming Love, 
And Sanctifying Spirit, Trinal Beams 
Merged in one God omnipotent. 

Within, 
The Holy of Holies, the common source 
And end, the central court and throbbing heart 
Whence life and action thrilled the branching courts, 
Was circled by celestial seraphim. 
" Faces had they of flame and wings of gold." 
Lo! from the empyrean fell a shining cloud, 
And hovered like a coronal above 
The surging masses in the vales below, 
As in the summer night, above the vale 
Of Chamouni, a silver-fringed cloud 
Oft hides the moon whose argent glory still 
The fickle cloud reflects, then breaks, and 'twixt 
The rifted edges shines the full, round moon 
In mellow splendor on the beauteous vale ; 



54 



So broke the shining coronal of cloud 

Above the Eock of Ages hovering, 

And through the rift a radiant angel's face 

Shone on the thronging multitude beneath. 

Whence came down-floating on the heav'n-born breeze 

Seraphic symphonies,- whose blending strains 

Recalled lost Eden's primal melodies. 

Each rapturously sweet refrain with prayers 

And praises of th' assembled angels teemed. 

Oh! with what soul-ingulfing ecstasy 

Rolled forth the notes of that triumphal hymn — 

O, realms of the faded 

Past, glimm'ring and shaded, 
That roll in the mists of the vanishing eld ; 

The temples ye cherished 

Are crumbled and perished 
By Time's surging billows that over them swelled. 

Before the dark river 

Submerges forever 
The jewels and gems that embellished your youth, 

From out your deep azure 

Yield up ev'ry treasure 
To glow in the sanctified Temple of Truth. 

Here martyrdoms olden, 

That witnessed the golden 
Faith binding the sacrificed saints to their pyres, 

Shall glitter hereafter 

In every bright rafter, 
And ring in the anthems of seraphic choirs. 

Here corridors ample, 

Where myriads trample 
On pavements of crystal, of jasper, and gold, 

Are bright with the garlands 

And trophies from far lands, 
Which tell of the heroes and conquests of old. 

Here idols and sages 

From realms of all ages 
Pass under the test of Tru fch's wonderful rays, 

Like glittering treasure 

Disclosing its measure 
Of gold and of dross in the furnace's blaze. 



55 



The splendors adorning 

The tirst rosy morning, 
When infant worlds sprang out of chaos and night, 

Here blend with the shining 

Of time's last declining, 
In rnany-hued glittering haloes of light. 

Lo ! here is the portal 

Which leads to immortal 
Bliss, after life's seeming cold shadows of love ; 

The Truth is the burden 

And price of the guerdon 
Of entrance and flight to the regions above. 

Let all the high arches 

Eesound to the marches 
Of ages and spheres that are rolling along ; 

Ring out, ye loud paeans, 

From aeons to aeons 
Till shakes the high dome with the thunder of song. 

Through the bright drapery environing 
The crystal gates of Heaven flashed the New 
Jerusalem, by angels circled round, 
Bathed in supremest fulgency, the sole, 
First, last, and utmost fount of radiance, 
Whence all the gleaming glories hither ward 
Passed through, were only borrowed glimmerings — 
The source and end of all eternity. 

The city of the New Jerusalem 
Of equal length and breadth and height, prepared 
By God for his redeemed of every age, 
Adorned, as for her husband, a young bride, 
Was like fine gold, transparent as pure glass. 
The walls of jasper clear as crystal shone. 
In each of the four walls three sev'ral gates, 
Each gate one pearl, white gleaming as the snow. 
An angel stood at each of the twelve gates, 
On each of which appeared inscribed the name 
Of each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 
The walls had twelve foundations, and in them 
The names of twelve Apostles of the Lamb ; 
And the foundation stones were garnished o'er 
With sparkling gems, and every precious stone ; 
The first foundation was a jasper stone ; 
The second saphire ; chalcedony, third ; 
The fourth a single pale-green emerald ; 



56 



The fifth, sardonyx ; sardius, the sixth ; 
The seventh, chrysolite ; beryl, the eighth ; 
A topaz, ninth ; and chrysoprasns tenth ; 
Th' eleventh was a jacinth, and tbe twelfth, 
An amethyst, red as the sparkling wine. 

I saw no bailded temple there reared up, 
For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb 
Were there the temple. And the city had 
No need of sun or moon to shine in it ; 
God's glory and the Lamb were light thereof. 
The gates of it shall not be shut at all 
By day : and there shall be no night therein. 
Proceeding from the throne of God and of 
The Lamb, a river of pure water flowed, 
Life-giving, crystal clear ; and in the midst, 
And upon either side, the tree of life, 
Which bare twelve fruits, and yielded every month : 
For healing of the nations were the leaves. 
There no more curse shall be ; but throne of God 
And of the Lamb, whose servants shall serve Him ; 
And they shall see His face and bear His name. 

A massive, snow-white cloud, in volume rolled, 
Transfused with unimaginable light, 
To adamantine hardness crystallized, 
Eose midway in the golden avenue : 
The radiate scintillations, flashing back 
From floods of light upon the crystal pile, 
In intertwining and unnumbered threads, 
Seemed, as it were, a woven drapery, 
That like a shining mist eternal hung 
In shimmering folds about the gleaming mound. 
The everlasting throne its summit crowned, 
Whence waves the scepter of the universe. 
The throne gleamed whiter, brighter, tenfold than 
Its base of crystal cloud ; and he that sat 
On it was clothed with Majesty and Light : 
Monarch supreme on his eternal throne ! 

With him incorp'rate and inseparate 
His garments, Light and Majesty appeared. 
His Kobe of Light, surpassingly intense, 
Pervading, flooding boundless space, around, 
Beneath, with beams of glory matchless and 
Ineffable, whereof th' immortal souls 



57 



Of men are but as sparks ephemeral, — 

The source eternal of eternal light, — 

With shining undulations, first illumed 

The Great White Throne upon the crystal cloud,— 

Thence shone throughout the New Jerusalem, — 

Whence radiant, all the universe reflects 

The fineless, matchless, and perpetual glow. 

The Holy Ghost wrapp'd great Jehovah on 
His throne, for he had put His Spirit as 
A garment on. 

His Robe of Majesty 
Was power creative, through whose exercise 
Jehovah is, and all created things ; — 
Father almighty, and supreme, whose breath 
Is tempest, whirlwind, motion, life, and death: 
Creator, mover and preserver of 
The countless orbs that roll in boundless space, 
Christ said, when on earth, " I have not yet 
Put on my Father," prophesying that 
Returned unto the throne imperial 
Within the New Jerusalem, He would 
Resume the Robe of Majesty supreme. 

Now on the central Great White Throne high raised, 
Clothed with supernal light, — the Holy Ghost, — 
Invested with primeval Majesty, — 
Oh ! holy, blessed, glorious Trinity, 
Three Persons and one God ! to whom, in mute, 
Involuntary adoration bow 
All things create, in Heaven and on earth. 

The colors of the rainbow, blending, played 
In ever-changing pictures through the air ; 
Elysian fields the far horizon swept 
'Twixt summits mingling with the ether dim ; 
The lofty domes and towers on either hand, 
High as the mountain pinnacles of earth, 
Seemed piled in grandeur by the Hand, that in 
Their orbits rolls the everlasting spheres. 
Through crystal windows I beheld bright eyes 
Of angels winged and draperied for flight ; 
Then through the open casements saw them flit, 
Light as the thistle-down on Summer's breeze ; 
Sweet odors from celestial gardens breathed, 
And strains seraphic filled the mellow air. 



58 

Behold upon the golden avenue, 
Two cherubim came leading like a child 
A fallen chieftain tow'rd the Great White Throne. 

' Pure was thy life ; its bloody close 

Hath placed thee with the sons of light, 
Among the noble host of those 

"Who perished in the cause of right.' 

Emerging from the struggling multitude 

Around the Eock of Ages pressing on 

To gain admittance through the vestibules. 

Lo ! one of mien extraordinary came, 

His eye and brow the counterpart of Jove. 

He moved through waves of sempiternal light 

Which from the Eock of Ages rolled in floods 

A prince of men ! His every action seemed 

To lift him up, as if above the clouds 

His normal and congenial theater lay. 

I saw him enter at the vestibule, 

And upward mount in blazing armor cased. 

Upon the ample folds that wrapp'd him round 

Was many a gorgeous device enwrought 

From music, painting, sculpture, poesy ; 

But chiefly from dramatic eloquence. 

The colors blending gave a beauty, strength. 

And almost a divinity, as if 

From personating kings on earth below. 

Triumphant now he would ascend on high 

To bear Jehovah's semblance in the sky. 

His gleaming armor seemed invulnerate ; 
But nowhere could I see the Blood Eed Cross. 
In place of it I saw a human heart 
On which the startling emblem, " TEKEL," glared. 
He grasps the Heaven-reaching ladder now, - 
Imparadised with angels' breath, and mounts 
The golden rounds that lift him toward the skies. 
Far upward now, where all discordant sounds 
Of earth are lost or blent in harmony. 
Celestial music bursts upon his ear 
From hosts seraphic, round the Great White Throne. 
No barrier meets him as he soars aloft 
Until he nears the round on which gleams out 
That changeless mandate from th' eternal God — 
"THOU SHALT NOT KILL!" 

No hand that hath been stained 



59 

By brother's blood, may grasp that holy bar. 

His palsied hand springs backward as he strives— 

Pale horror on his Jove-like features spreads — 

He turns in terror from his God's command ; 

And, falling headlong from the dizzy height, 

Like Phaeton, son of Phoebus, when struck off 

The Sun god's golden chariot by the bolt 

Shot from the hand of thunder-hurling Jove, 

Is lost beneath the murky clouds below. 
# > * # * 

Then through all Paradise resounding rose 

Entrancing strains of melody; first low, 

Then higher, with increasing swell, until 

From New Jerusalem, with mighty waves 

Of music thrilled, a glorious volume rolled 

To mingle with the music of the spheres. 

Then following, as when a prelude ends, 

Unto th' immortal harmony attuned, 

A myriad angels and archangels raised 

"With cherubim and seraphim, in full 

Accord, the Te Deum Laudamus. 

" We praise thee, O God ; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. 

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting." 

Oh ! grandest of all anthems ! passing sweet ! 

The very winds seemed thrilled and resonant 

With air and words harmoniously blent ; 

Now rising like the billowy ocean's swell, 

And then receding like its ebbing tide ; 

Expelling from the chambers of the soul 

All lurking ghosts of Hell-begot desires ; 

Subduing all the passions of the man ; 

Rebuking the perturbed spirit with 

Assuaging grace of preternatural peace, 

The mind ennobling, making strong the heart, 

Till each, who heard the soul-entrancing strains, 

Eesolved " I will Arise and Conquer too." 
# -* # * # 

O'er all the scene a mighty curtain fell, 
This curtain measureless in breadth and height, 
Trailing the shores of immortality, 
Athwart the boundless universe of space 
Depends betwixt eternity and time. 
High-arched upon its shining field appeared 
An azure dome, studded with stars, where shone 
The glorious sun in golden splendor, and 



60 

In argent softness the reflecting moon. 

The golden sun, the moon, and twinkling stars 

Were only scintillations flashing from 

The Great White Throne whereon Jehovah reigns. 

VALEDICTORY. 

Phantasmagoria^ daughter of the West, 

Thou virgin child of fair Columbia ! lured 

By holy passion for the Spirit of Good 

That woo'd thee willing on the dusky plains, 

Thou didst conceive, in spite of low'ring clouds, 

The grand design of making straight the paths 

Leading from darkness of Delusion's wiles 

To the immortal light of Faith and Truth. 

By Mercy guided towards thy destiny, 

Thy feet have trod upon the shining way, 

And with the princes and immortal gods 

Of ancient ages thou hast walked beyond 

The confines of mortality, amid 

The streets and temples of eternity. 

True to thy birthright, 'mid the dazzling gleam 

Of more than royal splendor, thou hast ne'er 

Forgot thy mission — to illume the paths 

By which we may arise and conquer. 

The germinating rays of wondrous light 

In which thy pilgrimage has been baptized 

Have giv'n to thy divine conception birth. 

The clouds lift from the Mount of Faith, and through 

The rifted veil glimmers the light of Truth. 

From high Olympus to the Golden Star 

I followed thine serial journeyings, 

And from beyond the shining portals flashed 

Some glimmerings of wisdom on my soul. 

Upon the fields of duty where I march, 

May some effulgent droppings ever fall, 

Kindling a flame of that ethereal fire 

Which burns in moral heroism and warms 

The heart to charity and quenchless zeal 

In all that elevates humanity. 

Phantasmagoria, farewell : I leave 

Thee now to nurse thy offspring in the beams 

That never fade, and warmth that never chills. 

Amen. 



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